


Dare You to Move

by Turbulent_Muse



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst, Brief Alcohol Mention, Greed POV, Human resistance led by Ed and Ling, I don't even ship this it just happened, M/M, Sharing a Body, Swearing, Talk of a failed suicide attempt, but Pinako is really in charge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2020-09-06 06:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 30,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20287234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turbulent_Muse/pseuds/Turbulent_Muse
Summary: Does anyone else remember The Host by Stephanie Meyer? No? That's fine, you don't need to to read this. It's about an invasion of alien bodysnatchers from the alien's POV. So of course I had to write a Greedling version. Title is from the song Dare You to Move by SwitchfootThe entire fic has been written already but updates are unscheduled.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ......  
...... denotes a present day scene
> 
> ...... denotes a Ling flashback
> 
> \--- denotes a Greed flashback/worldbuilding

......

...... 

The first thing you knew was the memory of pain. Then your mind rewound to the cause of that pain. There was fear, you were surrounded. They had guns and you saw the glint of steel from the one who had hurt you deeper than any physical would could. You gasped at the memory of the tightness in your chest that that hurt caused. There was the sound of a car approaching. Then there was determination overlaying the ever increasing fear. A brief moment of freefall, then impact. Pain so indescribable the memory brought tears to your eyes.

After the blackout that was supposed to be death, there was a new kind of pain, your body had seized as it tried to reject foreign occupation, and there was a new fear along with that too. Fear of having failed, of losing everyone. These memories were so all-consuming that you could barely hear the conversation taking place.

“Well, looks like he’s not waking up. Either the body was too damaged or whatever you did to him was too much.” A rough, gravelly, and vaguely familiar voice said. “It’s probably for the best anyway.”

“Have some patience, Envy.” Said a voice some instinct deep within you recognized. The voice also tugged at the body’s memory. Then somehow the fear got even worse.

You shot up into a sitting position and screamed.

——-

The colonization happened in waves. First, important public figures were occupied. People who could make changes to society that would make colonization easier. Then the second wave arrived. It started with the incarcerated and the hospitalized. People who could be accessed easily. While most could make do without it if they absolutely had to, it was protocol for occupation to happen via a surgical procedure. It was less dangerous for the alien that way. Once numbers built up the second wave started rounding up free hosts with the goal of leaving no unoccupied bodies. While this was happening the third wave arrived and set up infrastructure. Once society was up and running it was officially a stage four planet and any of them could choose to live out their next life there.

Earth was now a stage four planet.

...... 

...... 

“So, how are you adjusting, Greed?” Wrath said like it wasn’t obvious you had come to the roof to be alone. “This body still working out well for you?”

“Yeah, it’s great. Strong, healthy, young. No offense.”

Wrath frowned.

“Have you been able to get any more information from its memories yet?”

So this wasn’t just a casual chat. Of course. It was another damn interrogation. You wished you could just ignore your body’s past life like everyone else.

“Not yet.” You said. “He might have just been too damaged in the capture.”

“Well, let me know if that changes. Good luck with your Calling.” He said with his usual cheeriness and walked away.

You wished you’d never have to see that smug bastard again, but you knew that regular meetings to try and locate the rebel base were to be expected. Something in you just hated Wrath and you had no idea why.

_“You know, you don’t have to ever see him again. You don’t have to do what they say.”_

Of course, it might not have been you that felt that way at all.

Your host, Ling, had been uniquely stubborn enough to actually stick around after his body had been taken over by an alien being. Not that you had really pressed the issue. You were _supposed_ to completely eradicate or at least suppress any trace of the person your body used to belong to, and you could probably say goodbye to your second chance if anyone found out you weren’t doing that, but Ling was tough. He wouldn’t go down easy and you didn’t want to find out if you were or weren’t strong enough to beat him.

“I’m not rebelling against my people.” You grumbled and got up from your perch. “I’m fucking miraculously lucky they forgave me for what I’ve already done.”

You didn’t actually remember what you’d already done. Or anything before this host. You had been told that it was due to how much you fought being removed from your last host but you had a sneaking suspicion that it was something that had been done to you on purpose. You didn’t care, from what you’ve been told it doesn’t seem worth remembering anyway.

Apparently, on your last planet, you had failed to report a small faction of available hosts living in hiding. You had no idea why you would do such a thing, but eventually someone had found out and apprehended you, along with the free hosts. You would have been killed for this, but the one who had spawned you was a very powerful and influential being who happened to want all of his seven “children” with him on earth. One of them had already been killed by a human and he didn’t want to lose another. So you had been given another chance with the understanding that if you misbehaved at all it’ll be the last thing you ever did.

So it would be really fucking great if Ling would let you know the location of the rebel base your family was looking for.

_“You know the deal. If I tell you it’s because you’re going there. Alone.”_

“Fine. Get both of us killed.” You whispered angrily.


	2. Chapter 2

::::::

You walked the streets of the city, trying to decide what to do with one of your last days of freedom before becoming your father’s personal bodyguard. You hadn’t chosen the Calling and you weren’t looking forward to it. You got the sense that almost everyone in your family hated you and you were starting to return the sentiment. You settled on getting drunk.

Bartenders wouldn’t serve anyone too much alcohol, especially someone with such a young body (Though you didn’t look it. Most people would assume you were in your mid twenties rather than late teens.), since that was damaging to both the host body and to productivity, but over the past two weeks you had found that you could use your status to get around most small rules as long as none of your siblings were present. And you didn’t think you were likely to find any of them in a bar. And certainly not your father, who literally never left his office.

So by the time you were on your way home you were thoroughly wasted. Ling was babbling quietly about a million different things from his childhood. Safe topics. You were half-listening as you walked up to your house.

“You know,” You reasoned. “If we showed up at your compound now I doubt that you’d receive a warm welcome. They’d probably shoot me on sight rather than throw us a party.”

_“Maybe not if you gave me back control.”_ Ling suggested. Again.

“Look, kid, we’ve been over this. Never gonna happen. Probably impossible anyway.”

As you fumbled with your keys in the fading light you noticed a small lizard trying to squeeze its way under your door and into the house. Probably trying to escape the cold. You apathetically and methodically squished the creature with your shoe.

“Nothin’ personal.” You said to the tiny corpse as you unlocked the door and entered your home.

_“That was cruel, Greed.”_

“Whatever. It was just a lizard.” You said. But for some reason the image of blood and scales stuck in your mind. You shook it off and went to bed.

…...

“Shit! They’re everywhere! What do we do?” Ed said to Ling as they huddled behind a parked car. Points of light from flashlights were all around them.

Ling looked at Lan Fan. She was still bleeding through the makeshift tourniquet he’d made from his shirt and Al was having to practically carry her. They couldn’t run.

They were trapped and it was his fault.

“You go. I’ll lead them away.”

“Like hell!” Actual yelling would have led to them being found out, but Ed had mastered the closest whispered equivalent. “I am _not_ leaving you behind!”

“I’ll catch up with you later. But right now we’re in no position to fight. We need to get Lan Fan back as quickly as possible.”

“No! It’s too dangerous!”

“Ed! Listen to me. Lan Fan’s injured and you know these fuckers won’t hold back fighting against her and Al. You need to protect them both and get out of here. I’ll meet back up with you. I promise.”

Ed looked at him scrutinizingly.

“If you’re lying, I’ll kill you.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Ling replied with a cheeky grin. Then he leapt over the hood of the car are started yelling. “Hey, alien dickheads! Just try and fucking catch me!”

And he started running.

……

...... 

You awoke with a start. You immediately got out your notebook and began writing things down. Some things you had already known, but some of the details about the people were new, and even writing known information could help uncover something unknown.

Ed. Short, male, golden hair and eyes, white.

Lan Fan. Female, irrevocably injured (lost an arm), dark hair, dark eyes, east asian. Unfit host.

Al. Male, wore a big grey hoodie. Unfit host.

You focussed on the dream, trying to remember any more details. You remembered the cold night air on Ling’s bare chest, the rush of adrenaline that had tried it’s damndest to drown out the fear, Lan Fan’s unfocused and pained face showing that she wasn’t present enough to be a part of the conversation, the look in Ed’s eyes when he’d realized he couldn’t stop Ling from doing this no matter what he said—

_“Greed. Don’t tell Wrath.”_

Ling said insistently. His anger at himself had been building since his return to waking consciousness. He always had a looser hold on things in dreams.

“I have to or he’ll kill me.”

_“If you do he’ll kill my friends!”_

“Why should I care?! They’re not my friends.”

_“But you do care! You feel what I feel! In that dream I know you felt my fear, my guilt, my love for those that were with me. Think about it, do you really want to see Lan Fan dead?”_

Ling had told you plenty about Lan Fan before. She and Ling had grown up together. She was a skilled martial artist and deeply overprotective of Ling, but she was paradoxically shy too. And she was the only one who could come close to keeping up with him in terms of food consumption.

There were so many times she protected him, so many times that he had made her laugh, she knew all of his secrets, she comforted him when he had nightmares, she was _home_ and _safe_. She was _Lan Fan_.

For the first time Ling let you see how Lan Fan had been injured.

Wrath’s swords. Then her own knife had finished the job. A lost limb used to make a false bloodtrail to buy them precious seconds.

Fear that she would die, guilt that she was hurt, despair at every tortured face, every noise of pain she had made.

You fell out of bed and onto the floor, completely overwhelmed

_“Can you _really_ hurt her more?”_

“No.” You admitted, breathless. “I won’t tell Wrath. I can’t tell Wrath. Fuck.”

You pulled yourself up to your knees. But when you tried to get up the rest of the way something stopped you. The image of blood and scales from the dead lizard flashed before your eyes.

“Huh?”

Then the image of Wrath’s swords shredding the muscles in Lan Fan’s arm. This one came with a jolt of pain.

“Argh!”

Then more flashes, but these were just static and it felt like they were clawing at the inside of your skull.

“Kid, is this you?”

_“No. I feel it too. I don’t know what’s happening.”_ Ling sounded scared. That was rare.

The flashes continued and you gripped your head and screamed. When you started to see faces through the static you thought your head was going to explode until—

——

On earth they called it Chimera Planet. There was no other way to describe the extremely diverse creatures that served as their hosts on that world.

In shape they were humanoid but could have any number and any combination of animalistic characteristics; horns, claws, tails, fur, scales.

Your host had shark-like teeth and heavily armored flesh. You’d had the same job back then that you had everywhere. Guard your father. You were sick of it. Your father planet-hopped frequently, usually leaving his hosts long before their natural life span was up, and always insisting you come with him. You never got to actually settle down and have a life anywhere and it was infuriating.

So when your father decided to leave the world of the chimeras for newly colonized earth you did the thing you knew would annoy him most. You ran away. And you went to a block of holding cells and broke out some not-yet-occupied chimeras to take with you. You did this both because you figured you’d have a better chance of making it with a group than you would on your own, and because you knew it would really piss off your father, who was head of the department in charge of remaining population capture after full colonization. Plus, you kind of wanted it to be your turn to give the orders to someone else.

That’s really all it was at first, but over the next few years you grew close to your ragtag little team. Grew to care for them, to think of them as friends. And they had cared for you too, enough to throw themselves between you and Wrath’s terrible claws when he found them.

It was no use though, they all died and your host was damaged beyond repair.

Then your father made sure you would forget all of this by boiling your true body alive like a goddamn lobster. It was almost the most pain you’d ever been in. Seeing your friends die had hurt slightly more.

......

...... 

_“Greed.”_

“Shut up!” You sat on the floor, clutching your head, trying to push out the flashes of clearing static and the two hundred years worth of memories they brought with them.

_“How can you work for them?! How can you live among them after what they did to your friends?!”_

“Those weren’t my friends! That wasn’t me! I’m a new person now!”

_“Then why are you in so much pain?!”_

You _were_ in pain. Grief was tearing through you. Grief and anger. “No! That’s not a part of me anymore!” You were yelling just as much at your own feelings as you were at Ling.

_“It’s not that easy! Friends are connected by their very souls! And if you turn your back on these memories you leave behind your real family, the only part of you that you chose!”_

You screamed so loud it hurt.

So that’s how you ended up kicking in the door to Wrath’s house and starting a fight you couldn’t possibly win.

::::::

You were lucky Pride was out working or else you’d definitely be dead. As it was, you were frantically dodging the swords Wrath was trying to run through your head. You were losing. And you were confused, and angry, and in denial, and still getting more painful flashes as this fight reminded you of the one on the other world. You were in turmoil. Which allowed Ling to seize back control.

The first thing Ling did was jump out the window. The second was to start running.

And then he kept running.

For as long as he could, he just kept going.

You didn’t interfere, you were busy sorting out your memories and emotions. You made a good attempt at burying both but failed.

Eventually Ling reached a house out in the middle of the woods that his resistance group used as a safe house. He located the hidden key and walked through the front door and fell flat on his face out of hunger and exhaustion.

Surprisingly, he heard a voice. And a familiar one at that.

“Ling? Ling! Are you okay?!”

The voice sent waves of warmth and happiness and hope through Ling strong enough to somewhat soothe your pain.

“Ed.” Ling said.

Then a bright light was shone in your eyes and you heard retreating footsteps.

“It’s not him, he’s possessed!” A gun was cocked.

“Wait.” Ling managed. “Kill me if you must but please feed me first.”

“Well…that’s_ definitely_ Ling.”


	3. Chapter 3

……

Ed called the aliens “demons”. Both because they took over people’s bodies and because the apparent ruling family had been named after the seven deadly sins. There was one sure-fire way to tell if the person you were talking to was human or demon, and that was the eyes. Shining a bright light into the eyes of someone possessed would reveal a reflective red ring around the pupils.

It was Ed and Al who had first figured that out. They and their family were the first to join up with Ling and his bodyguards when shit started going down and everyone was on the run.

It had been a weird introduction. Things had been pretty awkward before it had been established that everyone there was human. The eyes convinced the Elric brothers and Al’s presence alone convinced Ling’s group. The demons wouldn’t want a body like that. They _might_ not mind the scars but he apparently had nerve damage to go with it. He couldn’t feel anything and he could barely move his face enough to speak clearly. When Ed revealed that two of his limbs were actually prosthetics it became clear that neither brother would have been considered a fit host.

Ed was smart and skilled and fought so fiercely that he more than made up for his missing limbs. His brother fought even better. That was how they’d escaped with their foster mother “Granny” and her granddaughter Winry. The girls were even smarter than the boys and later put in most of the work building the compound themselves. Of course, a lot of what was needed was already there since it was an old military base, but it still took some work to get something that high up in the mountains to be completely self-sustaining. But they had done it, and moved in all of the people they could. It wasn’t much, but it was a community.

They still went out on scavenging missions sometimes, and it was on one of those missions that they had ended up way in over their heads.

So when things went to hell Ling had led the demons away while the others escaped, and then he had tried his damndest to kill himself. He couldn’t let them take him, let them get at the knowledge in his head. Dying was the only way to keep everyone safe. Except he hadn’t died.

The next thing he had been aware of was a burning feeling, like he was surrounded by fire. Something deep inside him just wouldn’t let him get burnt up though, and then he felt another presence inside his head with him. His worst nightmare. But he would continue to fight, to keep himself present and keep his secrets hidden. And he would do whatever he could to manipulate this monster into letting him have his body back.

He hadn’t expected it to be so easy. He hadn’t expected the demon to actually be mostly fine with him staying. And he hadn’t expected him to have a past that showed he was rebellious and…and kind.

……

...... 

Ling explained nothing until he had eaten an absurd amount of food. Then he tried so summarize as best he could to Ed and the two older men with him.

“They erased Greed’s memory for rebelling against them before. But the memories came back and he attacked his family and I was able to take back control in all the chaos.” He explained to Ed and the others.

Ed looked astonished. “So…everyone who gets possessed, they’re still in there?”

“No,” Ling continued sadly. “I was just too stubborn to go and Greed never tried to get rid of me. I think he actually likes having me around—argh!” Ling yelled and clutched his head. “Really?! You’re doing this now? What if they decide to shoot you?”

“Ling?!”

“Greed’s trying to take back control. Listen, he’s cut all ties to his people, he won’t sell us out. I understand if you don’t want to take me back to the compound like this, but you’re all safe, okay?—Dammit just give me one more minute! Ed, tell me one more thing. Is Lan Fan okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine. But she misses you, a lot.”

“Tell her I’m sorry to worry her. And I’m sorry about what happened.”

“Okay. And Ling, when you say Greed, do you mean…?

“Yep. Son of the Bearded Bastard himself.” Then Ling clutched his head and yelled again.

“Listen! We can—”

“This is it for me. I’m tired. I don’t know if I’ll be able to take control again. Don’t kill Greed.”

“Ling!”

“Ugh.” You held the bridge of your nose and shook your head. Ed backed up immediately, Your voice was without Ling’s accent. “That kid is really starting to get on my nerves.” Then you walked out of the safe-house and into the night.

“Hey! Wait!” Ed called and followed you. “Ling!”

“Weren’t you listening, brat? The name’s Greed.”

“Fine! Greed, come with us!”

You stopped in your tracks. “Yeah, no. I don’t think I’m going to be very welcome in your little human resistance camp.”

“We can explain the situation! People will be happy that Ling’s back…kinda. Listen, you don’t have anywhere else to go.”

You considered it for a moment. Ed’s relentless optimism was charming, or at least Ling thought it was. And you wanted to stay around him, Ling’s feelings of familiarity were overriding your own blank apathy towards Ed. You looked at Ed and saw a friend. Then your mind gave you another flash of dead chimera faces.

“Sorry,” you said, walking away again. “But I’m a solo act.”

When you were out of earshot of the others you sighed. “I’m going to be alone for the short rest of my life.”

_“If you’re lonely you should have accepted Ed’s offer.”_

“I never said I was lonely!” You shot back defensively. “How can I be with your running commentary always playing in my brain.”

_“So. Where _are_ you gonna go?”_ Ling said angrily. For awhile he had seemed a bit more friendly to you than usual, but you guessed that refusing to stay with Ed had re-embittered him.

“I’ll cross that bridge after I find a place to sleep tonight.”

Then you and Ling heard the sound of running behind you. You looked to see Ed and the other two men closing the distance between you.

“Aw christ, brat. I told you—”

Ed punched you in the head and you fell hard to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains talk of a failed suicide attempt.

...... 

Ed and Ling were sitting outside of the compound-in-construction, wrapped in heavy coats against the cold. They looked up at the stars, they could see so many more out here than anywhere else they’d ever been in their lives.

“So,” Ling said, keeping his eyes on the sky. “What were you gonna do with your life before all of this happened?”

“I was gonna be a doctor.” Ed replied, also still looking at the stars. “Maybe find a way to help Al. What about you?”

“Ever heard of Xing corp?”

“The billion-dollar mega-corporation?”

“I was gonna run it. The CEO’s my dad.”

Ed turned to look at Ling. “Bullshit! I’d have heard of you.”

“Well,” Ling turned to look back at Ed. “He’s not married to my mom, and he didn’t _know_ I was going to run the company. Not yet.”

“I see. So is that why you’re all Mr. Bigshot with your fancy clothes and ninja-like bodyguards? Shit, was that racist?”

“Naw, Lan Fan and Fu _are_ basically ninjas. But like, chinese ninjas. And yeah, their family worked for my mom, she ran a pretty notable subsidiary of the company and with that much money involved competition was _fierce_.”

Ed looked back up at the sky. “Do you know where she is? Your mom?”

Ling looks up as well. “She died long before the invasion started.”

“Mine too.”

“What about your dad?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“I think mine got possessed in the first wave. If I remember the news stories correctly I think it made him more kind.”

There’s a moment of silence where both boys just stare at the sky. Then Ling gets up.

“Come on,” he offers a hand to Ed. “Let’s get inside and get something to eat. I’m _starving_.”

Ed takes his hand and pulls himself to his feet.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you are. It’s a miracle we have any rations left at all.”

They both laugh.

……

You awoke sometime the next day to find yourself slung over the shoulder of one of the two men travelling with Ed. And your hands were tied. You immediately started struggling.

“Hey, Ed,” The man said. “He’s awake.”

“Alright. Put him down, Darius.”

Darius dropped you unceremoniously to your feet.

“What the hell, brat!” You yelled at Ed. “You can’t _make_ me come with you!”

“Actually, I think I can considering that I just did.” Ed said smugly. Then he got more serious. “Look. If you really rebelled against your family then there’s nowhere else you can go. I wouldn’t care if you were just some random parasite but if something bad happens to _you_ that means something bad happens to _Ling_. And he’s my friend. So I’m taking him and, unfortunately, you to the one place you’ll both be safe.”

You had to admit that the bratty pipsqueak had a point. “Okay, fine. Take me to your dumb compound in the mountains.” You conceded. And the group continued walking. “So can you untie me now?”

“Sorry, I’m not _entirely_ stupid. I don’t actually trust you.”

“What if I let Ling take over again?” You didn’t actually know if you _could_ do that, nor were you willing to. You were asking mostly out of curiosity.

_“Then I’d tell them to keep the ropes on.”_ Ling replied smugly. You could feel that Ling was glad to be with Ed and to be heading back to the closest thing to a home he had left. You fought against those emotions and tried to remain angry and contrary for as long as you could.

“Then he would say to—”

“Ugh. I know. He told me.”

“So he can talk to you, and he can hear me?”

“Yeah but don’t go thinking you’re gonna be having regular conversations with him. I’m not up for being your go-between.”

_“Rude. I haven’t seen Ed in a month!”_

“Wait. A month?” You turned to Ed. “It’s been a month since you saw this kid?” You asked, pointing at yourself as best you could considering your restraints.

_“If your calendar was right.”_

“Uh, yeah, I think that’s about right. Why?”

“I’ve only had this body for two weeks. It must have taken the other two for my people to repair the damage to him. That’s a _long time_ for someone to be in our hospitals.” You addressed your next statement to Ling. “Shit, kid, you must have been trying pretty damn hard to kill yourself.”

_“I had to make sure. To protect my friends…And I failed.”_ This thought carried a wave of sadness with it, souring the mood.

“What…What did he do?” Ed asked. “I mean I figured he had either escaped or done _something_ when no demon parasite army stormed the compound but…What exactly happened?”

_“Don’t tell him. He shouldn’t have to know that.”_

“He wants to know, and I see no reason to keep it from him.” You shrugged and turned to Ed. “Your buddy jumped off an overpass and into the path of an oncoming car. It’s a freakin’ miracle he survived, I think he was just too stubborn to die.”

Then you noticed that Ed had stopped walking. And he looked like he was about to start crying.

“Oh. Shit.” You said quietly.

_“I told you!”_

Ling felt bad for upsetting Ed. Which meant you felt bad. You wanted to move to comfort Ed somehow but didn’t know how and also you were tied up and also Ed was a stranger and these were not_ your_ feelings. So you did nothing.

“Did…Did it hurt?” Ed asked.

_“Lie.”_

“No. No, he was unconscious pretty much instantly. He didn’t feel it.”

Ed breathed a sigh of relief and started walking again. “Good.”

_“Thank you.”_ Ling said, relieved.

You let yourself fall just enough behind to have a quiet private conversation with Ling. “This guy really cares about you, huh, kid?”

_“It’s pretty easy to become friends during the end of the world. We were both the first group of survivors the other had found. He saved my life once actually, not too long ago.”_

“Oh yeah, what happened?”

_“We were alone together on a scavenging mission and we ran out of rations pretty quick. The real problem though was that we didn’t find _anything_ in any of the houses we searched. I passed out from hunger on the way back to the compound and even though Ed was just as tired and hungry he carried me for the rest of the day. Then that night he boiled his boot so we could eat the leather.”_

“That’s disgusting.”

_“Yeah, but it got us through until we could meet up with Al. That was actually the mission that…”_

“What?”

_“It convinced me that we needed to start scavenging closer to the cities. The next time we went out was when…”_

“Oh.”

Ling was sad. Again. You tried your best to cheer him up so you didn’t have to deal with his dark mood being in your head. “But hey, that didn’t turn out too bad for you. You’re still alive, and now you get to listen to my beautiful voice all the time.” You joked.

_“It’s not myself I’m feeling sorry for. It’s Lan Fan.”_

“Your best friend.”

_“Bodyguard.”_

“Whatever.”

_“Y’know, when I was lying there on the pavement, before I blacked out, I told myself that I deserved the pain. That Lan Fan must have been in even more pain when she had to cut off her own arm.”_

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got access to most of your memories, remember? And for what it’s worth I think you guys must have been about even in terms of pain.” You winced at the memory.

_“You forget that we don’t have the kind of technology your fancy Healers do. We have a coroner for a medic. Her pain lasted a lot longer than mine.”_

“Shit…Hey, how come I didn’t know that shoe story before? You keep a lot of your memories of Ed secret.”

_“A lot of my memories of Ed would give away the location of the compound.”_

“But you’re still keeping them secret.”

_“What right do you have to my past anyway?!”_ Ling responded defensively.

“Hey, it’s fine by me. A little privacy between us is probably a good thing.”

You walked in silence for awhile before you got bored and fell even further behind to approach the two older men.

“So, Ling doesn’t know you. What’s your story, how long have you been with Ed’s group?”

“Just a few days longer than you.” One of them said.

“Yeah, we met him out here in enemy territory.” Darius added.

“And you still trust him on bringing me back to the compound?” You said, surprised.

“There was a bit of an argument while you were passed out. Heinkel wanted to shoot you.” Darius said nonchalantly. “But yeah, we trust the kid.”

“He saved our lives.” Heinkel explained. “Even though it made his own injuries worse.”

_“What?! What happened?!”_

“How’d that happen?”

“We were out here, up north, then we ran into Ed. We got into a fight, we didn’t know if he was human and we didn’t stop to ask.”

“Then,” Heinkel continued. “The abandoned building we were in just collapsed.”

“It was rough on all of us. But Ed helped lift the rubble we were trapped under even though he was already bleeding out.”

“We had to hold up a parasite clinic to save him. Held all the Healers at gunpoint. We barely made it out of there. The thing is…he didn’t even know we were human when he saved us. He didn’t have time to do that light reflection test he invented before we attacked. He just acted out of blind hope and mercy.”

“So we decided to stick with him. A permanent place to stay sounds nice and it’d be dangerous to let him keep scouting out here alone.”

_“Alone?!”_

“Wait, what _was_ he doing out here alone?” You asked.

“Looking for you.” Heinkel answered. “Or the kid you’re possessing, I mean. He couldn’t handle not knowing what happened to Ling.”

“He couldn’t stop talking about him either. This whole time he’s been going on and on about how Ling’s the whole reason the compound even exists and stuff.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Wow. Ed really likes this guy, huh?”

“Of course.” Heinkel said. “I doubt he take the risk of leaving you alive if you were walking around with anyone else’s face. Except for his brother’s.”

You let this sink in. Ling was a bit shocked and embarrassed, and you felt a slight blush creep into your cheeks. _“That’s not true. Ed hates the idea of killing anyone. It gets annoying. And dangerous. Walk up to Ed. I have something to say to him.”_

You did as you were told.

“What is it?” Ed asked.

_“Tell him he should not have tried to look for me. It was stupid and further jeopardized his own safety and the compound and everyone there and—”_

“Your friend says thanks for risking so much to find him.”

_“Greed!”_

Ed looked at you scrutinizingly.

“Ling did _not_ say that.”

“No,” you admitted. “But what I said was nicer.” You grinned cheekily. “Look, Darius and Heinkel told us what happened, how you almost died. I think it freaked the kid out a bit, he blames himself.”

“That’s dumb. It was my decision to go out on my own.”

“Yeah, and let me guess, you did it because_ you_ blame _yourself_ for him getting left behind?” It was more of a statement than a question, but if you had needed an answer you would have gotten one in Ed’s refusal to meet your eyes.

“I say you both need to cut this stupid human bullshit and let everyone be responsible for their own decisions.” You continued disapprovingly. “Especially since neither one of you morons actually did die and everything turned out okay.”

Ed glared at you.

“Relatively okay.” You conceded.

Ed sighed. “I guess…I guess you're right. But I don’t regret coming out here to look for him. I don’t leave people behind.”

“Yeah.” You said, holding up your bound hands. “I’ve noticed.”

Ed laughed a bit at this and you couldn’t help but smile too.

“How the fuck,” Ed said. “Am I going to explain you to everyone back home?”

“Hell if I know.” You answered. Then you felt a warm fuzzy feeling bloom in you from Ling’s mind. “What’s this about?”

“What?”

“Not talking to you.”

“Oh.”

_“He called the compound ‘home’. I made a _home_ for him, for everyone.”_

::::::

Soon after this you all made camp for the night. More rope was used to attach your bindings to a tree to prevent you from running off.

“Sorry about this, Ling.” Ed said as he finished tying.

“He approves.” You grumbled. “Thinks I’d still try running off and surviving out here by myself.”

“Would you?”

“After hearing what happened to you when you were out here alone? Hell no.”

“Well, just to be safe…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re not gonna trust the alien bodysnatcher in your best friend’s head just because he says he won’t run. Goodnight, brat.”

“Goodnight, asshole.” Ed said with a cheeky grin and then went over to his sleeping bag.

You were in a patch of woods just outside the edge of a small town where nothing lived anymore. You knew from Ling’s memories that his and Ed’s group had long since raided the houses and few stores for all the useful supplies they contained and met no one, human or otherwise, while doing so. You weren’t likely to be found by anyone here. You leaned against the tree and tried to get comfortable.

_“Greed.”_

“Huh?” You replied sleepily.

_“Thank you for what you said earlier. For making sure Ed did not blame himself.”_

“No problem. Anything to minimize the teenage angst I have to be around. But you’re being a hypocrite.”

_“What?”_

“You still blame _yourself_ for Lan Fan.”

_“That’s different. The mission was my idea and she got hurt defending me.”_

“She _chose_ to go with you and she _chose_ to defend you.”

_“She’s my bodyguard. That makes her safety my responsibility.”_ Ling said uncompromisingly.

“I think you got that backwards, kid. Besides, she’s more than just a bodyguard or else her and her granddad would have left when the world went to shit.”

_“We grew up together after my mother and Lan Fan’s parents died. She’s family, even though her and Fu refuse to act anything less than professional.”_ Ling conceded._ “And you’re right, the world went to shit so they shouldn’t feel obligated to protect me anymore. But they do. So I have to protect them because if they get hurt it’s my fault.”_

“That’s not how family works.”

_“You are in no position to lecture me about family!”_ Ling shot back angrily. _“Your family by blood do nothing but betray and manipulate you and your family of the soul is dead!”_

There was a moment of silence. Even the crickets seemed to quiet down.

_“That was too far. I’m sorry.”_

“Naw, it’s fine. That was in the past, I’m over it. Besides, you’re right.” You said, dismissively, ignoring that fact that Ling could _feel_ you lie. “I don’t know jack shit about family.”

_“Greed…”_

“Now shut up so I can go to sleep.”


	5. Chapter 5

……

“It’s the perfect location!” Ling argued. “It’s camouflaged, no one’s been there in decades, and it’s practically a fortress!”

“It’s not feasible!” Ed yelled at Ling. “Staying in one place for so long and so far from civilization, If we don’t get found out we’ll starve to death!”

“Running forever isn’t feasible either! We’re having to make camp too close to the cities, and eventually we’ll run out of places to loot!” Ling rebutted. “Look, we have to start growing crops at some point.”

“In the mountains?” Ed questioned, unconvinced.

“Winry and Granny can build and repair state of the art prosthetic arms and legs from scraps we find in abandoned houses, don’t tell me they can’t build a greenhouse! Listen, we have to at least have a base of operations. Otherwise how are we going to find other humans? To organize? To ensure the future of humanity?”

“I don’t care about the future of humanity right now! I just want to keep my family alive!” Ed yelled desperately.

“This is the best way to do that, Ed! Trust me. You won’t be able to keep up this nomadic lifestyle forever. It wears on people. I know Granny’s a badass but she’s not exactly in her prime, and what if someone gets hurt and can’t keep up the pace? We need a _home_, Ed.” Ling pleaded.

Ed sighed and sat down on a rock.

“You’re right. I _know_ you’re right. I’m just…I’m scared, Ling.”

“Listen, Ed. You know all of the people who are going to be working on this. You know Winry and Granny can design and build anything. You know Lan Fan and Fu will be able to spot any weak point or danger we might overlook. You know that you and Al can solve any problem we run into. And you know that I won’t give up, I won’t stop trying until I get what I want. And I want to make a place where we can all be safe.”

“I want that too.” Ed confessed.

“Excellent. If we combine your stubbornness with mine then nothing can stop us.”

“…Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Great. And, by the way, I know you _do_ care about the future of humanity.”

“I guess.” Ed grumbled. Ling hugged him and he looked annoyed at the affection. “Don’t mess this up.”

“None of us will. This is going to work, I promise.”

……  
……

You got an early start and spent the first half of the next day walking until Ling made you tell everyone to stop.

_“This is a hiking trail. And it looks like it’s still being maintained.”_

“Shit. The kid thinks my kind might be using this hiking trail.”

“Then we should get far away from here as soon as possible.” Heinkel said and started walking away.

“Wait.” Darius said. “Are we _sure_ that they are? Because this trail would cut our travel time in half and we are _low_ on rations.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Ed said. “We’ve had enough excitement on this trip already. I just wish there was a way to make sure. If we run out of food one of you guys will have to start carrying Li—Greed again within a day.”

“Actually,” you interjected. “I think there’s a way to solve both problems. Let’s backtrack a bit and see if we can find the campground store.”

You did so, and observed the building from the dense brush nearby. Heinkel put down his binoculars and swore. His glasses fell back down onto his nose as he did.

“I don’t see any customers but someone’s definitely behind the counter.”

“Should we hold the place up?” Darius asked. Heinkel was already reaching for his gun.

“No!” Ed said. “We’re too close to the compound. It’s too risky. We’ll just have to make what rations we have last.”

“There is a third option. But you’ll have to trust me.” You suggested. The others all looked at you. “I’m a wanted man, but I doubt the news has spread this far just yet. I can just walk in there and get us what we need.” The sun reflected off the red rings in your eyes as you ended your sentence with a grin.

“You don’t have any money.” Darius said.

“Don’t need it. My kind doesn’t use it. Come on, just let me prove to you that I’m on your side and then we can stop with whole tying me up thing and we’ll have enough food that I won’t have to listen to Ling complaining the whole way back.”

There was a moment of silent contemplation.

“We _are_ really low on food.” Darius said.

“Dammit. Don’t make me regret this” Ed angrily muttered as he walked over and untied your hands.

“Trust me. This is gonna go just fine.”

......

...... 

You were greeted cheerfully by the person behind the counter.

“Hi! I’m Spring. Welcome to the Bear Peak camp shop! Can I help you with anything?”

“Hey there Spring, I’m…” Your mind went blank. You made a habit of not lying so you had practically no practice at it.

_“Pick any name from the same planet her name is from.”_ Ling, who was an experienced liar, suggested.

“Solstice.”

“Oh! You get your start on Dryad Planet, too?” Spring asked excitedly.

“Yep. And I’m just so excited to be getting back to nature, y’know?”

“Well, no offense, but you're hardly dressed for it.”

You looked down at your outfit. Black dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress shoes, black coat.

_“Greed. Repeat after me. Anytime she asks a question just repeat after me.”_

You nodded as imperceptibly as you could. “Oh, yeah. I just got here. I’m going to change after I get back to my campsite.”

“Okey dokey! Is there anything I can help you find?”

“No thank you. I know my way around stores like this pretty well.” You said with a smile and grabbed a basket.

_“The smile was a nice touch. Keep being friendly and charming.”_

“Got yourself an experienced hiker?”

“Uh, yeah, got lucky.”

“You sure did.” Spring said with a hint of annoyance. “This body was a librarian with allergies, she never went out into the wilderness.”

You took a moment to feel sorry for the mousy little bookworm that used to reside where Spring now did. Then you felt surprised at feeling sorry. You thought maybe it was just Ling’s feelings, he _was_ feeling the same thing, but it_ felt_ like _yours_. You decided to just ignore it. “Well, I’m glad you found your way back to the forest anyway.”

After a mental nudge from Ling you went to the medical supply section and grabbed three of everything. Then you grabbed as much canned food and protein bars as you could fit in the basket. Then, in a moment of foresight, you grabbed a backpack with the words “Bear Peak” emblazoned on it. You threw in supplies to make s’mores for appearances’ sake. And because Ling’s sweet tooth demanded it.

Then you put your basket on the counter. Spring would need to do a count for inventory’s sake.

“Oh wow.” She said. “That’s a lot of stuff.”

“Yeah, I’m here with a group. They made me come and get stuff for everyone while they set up the tents.”

“Well, Solstice, I hope to see more of you and your friends.”

“I hope so too, Spring.” You smiled as Spring handed you the backpack she’d put your other purchases in.

After walking out the door and a considerable distance away from the shop you let out a sigh of relief.

“Thanks for the help in there, kid.”

_“Of course. If you had messed up we’d both be screwed.”_ Ling reasoned. But you could tell that his hostility towards you was fading. You didn’t know if it was because you rebelled or because you were going with Ed or both, but you appreciated it.

Once you got back to the others you put a few hours’ distance between yourselves and the hiking trail before checking out what you had gotten.

“Are these…s’mores ingredients?” Heinkel asked.

“Uh, yeah, I thought it’d make all this look less like emergency rations and more like fun camping food. We can leave then behind if you—”

“Absolutely not.” Heinkel interrupted. “I haven’t had chocolate in years.”

Darius was already putting a bag of marshmallows into his own backpack.

“How are we supposed to know what to do with all this, what is half of it even supposed to be?” Ed said while looking through the medical supplies. They were all sprays with names like “Seal”, “Clean”, and the vaguest, “Heal.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s stupidly simple.” You said. You started picking up the sprays one by one. “This one closes wounds, this is disinfectant, this one you spray on a wound to numb it, this is an oral painkiller, here’s the antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal, and this is an aerosol bandage.”

Ed looked at you in shock.

“How do you know all this?”

“It’s the same on every planet I’ve been on and this is all stuff someone would have in their medicine cabinet.”

Ed looked up at you seriously. “If nothing else, just having you explain how this high-tech medicine works is worth the risk of bringing you back. You’re gonna need to talk to the doc as soon as we get there.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

_“Don’t be like that. I know you like feeling useful.”_

You did like feeling useful. That and the fact that they left you untied had you feeling pretty good for the rest of the day.

......

...... 

That night, once you made camp, Ed approached you and tossed you a bundle.

“Ling’s sleeping bag?” You recognized it almost instantly.

“Yeah, I…I brought it in case I actually found him. And since I _did_ find him I might as well let you use it. But Heinkel’s gonna be keeping watch so don’t think you can sneak off.”

“Relax, kid, I’m not going anywhere. I’m willing to admit that I have nowhere else to go and Ling’s little mountain resort is my best bet.”

“Glad to hear you had a change of heart on that subject.” Ed said, then walked off to his own sleeping bag.

You made yourself as comfortable as you could. You missed your bed. And as warmer and softer as you knew the beds at the compound would be than camping out like this, they still were no match for a brand new mattress with a big fluffy comforter. Not for the first time, you wished you’d had the presence of mind to pack a bag before you’d attacked Wrath. Of course you wouldn’t have been able to bring your bed, but maybe some blankets, the compound was pretty cold. And, of course, if you had had any presence of mind at all you wouldn’t have attacked Wrath.

_“But isn’t this better than living like you were before? Your whole life was a lie back then, and you hate your family.”_

You thought about the years you’d spent in service to your father before you rebelled the first time.

“Yeah, I guess so. Whatever happens to me now I at least don’t have to see those assholes ever again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long gap between chapters, The Magnus Archives has claimed my brain for the last week.

......  
......

It took another three day’s walk for you to get to the compound. The trek was boring and uneventful, just as everyone present was hoping it would be. You walked, you filled your canteens with boiled river water, Ed caught some rabbits in snares on the third day. Ed talked, a lot. Filling Ling in on what had happened since he had been gone. You responded with snarky comments occasionally but mostly just listened. It was weird, getting to know someone you felt like you already knew and deeply cared for.

About an hour before you reached your destination Ed tied you back up and blindfolded you. “If I don’t do this they might see your eyes and just start shooting.”

“Wonderful.” You said sarcastically.

As you got closer the hike became more of an upward climb and you could hear and smell snow under your feet. You knew from Ling’s memories that the compound entrance looked like just another mountain to anyone who hadn’t studiously committed the location to memory, so it was up to Ed alone to lead you there. He was holding you by the arm and leading you over the rough terrain while Darius and Heinkel brought up the rear. Suddenly, he stopped and let go of your arm. You immediately missed the contact and then realized that the feeling had come from Ling.

“Okay.” Ed said with equal parts nervousness and relief. “We’re here.”

——

The creatures the humans called parasites were, in their true form, a red gel-like liquid. They entered a host’s bloodstream via any available means. Then they worked their way to the brain, where they bonded to the host’s neurons and took full control of neurological activity.

A parasite made its host’s body run at peak performance. Allergies were eliminated, injuries healed faster, capacity for strength and speed was maximized. They were not quite superhuman, but they were close.

And their technology brought them well over the line. Not only had they developed the means to travel all throughout the galaxy, but they ran each new colonized world like they ran their stolen bodies, with maximum efficiency. They produced new technology regularly and innovations were spread from planet to planet.

They didn’t die when the host did as long as they didn’t spend too long hostless and their actual bodies weren’t damaged. If the host died a natural death then the parasite would leak out of one of its eyes, but usually they were removed surgically once a host was getting close to the end of its lifespan.

A parasite could survive without a host for several hours in the proper climate and indefinitely in a hibernation pod. They were immortal.

And no planet had ever been able to stop them.

::::::

Ed knocked on the hidden door in a complicated pattern and you heard a heavy scraping sound as it was opened.

Everyone was quickly ushered inside and the sound happened again as the door closed.

“Ed!” A familiar voice called out. “Here, put all your bags down over there.”

“Al! I’m so glad it’s you on guard duty. Listen, I have a bit of a situation I need to explain.”

“I’ll say…Wait…Is that Ling?! Why’s he tied up? What…What’s going on?”

“Al, call everyone to the main room. There’s something I _really_ need to explain. Uh, for now, this is Darius and that’s Heinkel. They were out on their own when we found each other.”

“Hi, I’m Al. We’ll get you set up with a place to stay after Ed tells everyone what’s happening with…all of that.”

You had a suspicion that Al was gesturing to you.

You could feel that Ling desperately wanted to greet Al, and everyone else he knew here. He wanted this to be a normal welcome home without the chaos your presence would inevitably bring. You felt sad too and you couldn’t tell if it was all an echo of Ling’s sadness or if you just felt bad for him.

“Is Fu still gone meeting up with the militia that guy was putting together? What was his name? Mustang?” Ed asked.

“Yeah. He’s not due back for a couple days. Maybe a week.” Al answered. Fu had been gone since before Lan Fan had been injured and Ling captured.

“That’s probably definitely for the best. And, uh, let Lan Fan stay in the infirmary.”

You almost protested. Ling wanted to see her so badly that you couldn't separate the feeling from yourself no matter how hard you tried. But luckily you both knew that letting her see Ling like this was a bad idea so you were able to hold back your words.

“Got it.” Al said. Then there were footsteps, going further away.

Ed grabbed your arm and led you to a nearby bench. He kept a tight grip on you as you sat. You could hear people coming into the room, a few of them making noises of surprise. After several minutes Ed stood up and pulled you with him.

“Um, okay, everyone.” He said to the crowd. “As you know, I went out to search for Ling even though pretty much every single one of you told me not to. Well…I found him. But he’s been possessed.”

“Edward,” said another familiar voice. Granny. “Do you really want a repeat of what happened to—”

“It’s not like that! That’s not why I brought him back!”

“Then why? And do we need to evacuate?”

“No. No, we’re safe here…Alright, listen, I know this is hard to believe and you’ll think it’s just me being gullible because Ling’s important to me, but he’s still aware in there and he was keeping the compound’s location secret with the force of his will. I know it, I _talked_ to him. And…And there’s one more thing. The demon possessing him is one of the Sins. He rebelled against his family and they want him dead. I had to bring him here to keep Ling safe.”

“Hey!” Shouted another voice.

“Yeah?”

“I just got back from a scouting mission. I saw a news broadcast that confirms that one of the Sins is wanted dead or alive, preferably dead. So that part’s true, at least, they showed his picture. He really pissed them off.”

“Thanks, Zampano. I’m, uh, I’m gonna take his blindfold off now.”

Ed removed the cloth from over your eyes. You took in the crowd. Ling recognized every face.

There was Granny, smoking her pipe and looking angry like she always did. Winry in her overalls, she must have been called away from a project. She looked confused and concerned. Paninya was frowning next to her. Jerso and Zampano talked quietly amongst themselves. Dr. Knox looked skeptical. Sig was unreadable as always and Izumi beside him looked curious but stern. The others wore a mix of expressions but none of them were happy.

“Uh, hi. I’m Greed.” You awkwardly introduced yourself.

You knew all of these people’s stories. You knew Izumi and Sig had been Ed and Al’s foster parents for awhile before Granny had been able to get the government to approve her mechanical workshop/home as safe for kids. You knew Jerso and Zampano were ex-military and had both lost their families to the invasion. And the others. You knew every single one of these people who looked at you with everything but familiarity as the mirrors on the ceiling that reflected the sunlight from the skylight caught the red rings in your eyes.

“Ed.” Granny said as Ed started untying your hands. “Listen. I’m not saying you’re wrong about this. I think you are, but I’m not saying it. But we can’t trust this thing. Even if it is on the run.”

Heinkel stepped forward so he was beside Ed and Ling. Darius followed.

“We can vouch for him.” Heinkel said.

“And just who the hell are you?” Granny asked.

“I met them a few days before I met Greed.” Ed answered. “They saved my life.”

“Only after Ed saved ours.” Darius said.

“Look.” Granny said. “For now, let’s put him in a cell. That’ll give us time to figure out what—”

There was a sharp gasp from the crowd. Suddenly everyone was looking over at the hallway that led to the infirmary. Lan Fan was standing there.

The wave of emotion that Ling felt at seeing her almost drowned you completely. Her chest and what was left of her left shoulder were covered in bandages, her hair was down, she looked tired. She looked hurt. For the first time Ling had ever seen, she looked weak. You were fighting to hold back tears, the guilt and despair tearing through you were just too much. Then she locked eyes with you. Then she looked _angry_.

She ran forward and punched you in the face so hard you fell backwards onto the floor. People tried to hold her back but even in her weakened state she fought them off. Then she got on top of you and just kept punching and punching. You did nothing to fight back. Ling felt like he deserved this and the thought of hitting her, of harming her in any way, made you sick. After a while she started crying as she hit you and then she stopped and grabbed you by the shirt.

“Well?!” She yelled through her tears. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

You slowly reached down into your pocket and pulled out a few bottles of medicine.

“These should help. With the pain. And keeping it from getting infected.” You put the small bottles down and looked up into Lan Fan’s large sad eyes. One of her tears fell onto your cheek and mixed with your own. “He’s so sorry. He never wanted you to get hurt for him.”

At this Lan Fan looked like she was going to punch you again but instead she just started crying harder. She tried to bury her face in her one hand. You kept crying too. After a moment Dr. Knox came over and convinced her to let herself be led away. He grabbed the medicine and turned to you.

“You _will_ explain to me how this works.” He said sternly.

“Sure thing, Doc.” You said weakly. You slowly picked yourself up onto your feet.

For a while no one did or said anything.

“Someone take me to the goddamn cell so I can lay down.” You finally said.

Al volunteered to lead you there while Winry got accommodations set up for Darius and Heinkel. The prison cells in the compound weren’t really too bad, they were about the same size as the rooms in the barracks, they just had a locking door and the beds were a bit shittier. Al had grabbed an extra blanket for you on the way and handed it to you as he politely ushered you inside. You just flopped down onto the nearest bed, exhausted.

“So.” Al asked after he locked the door. “Is Ling really still in there?”

“Yep.” You said miserably.

“Prove it.”

“How?”

“What did Ling say to me when we first met? When Ed explained what happened to me?”

“He said—”

_“Wait. This is a trick.”_

“He said something he doesn’t want to say to you again because he knows you now and knows it was a messed up thing to say.”

“That’s right.”

“You convinced?”

“Hmm. Maybe.” Then he left.

You pulled the blanket over yourself and hoped unconsciousness would leave your mind blissfully empty.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the unplanned hiatus! There was work and a vacation and an illness and an obsession with the Magnusquerade 'verse. Anyway, we're back now.

::::::

You were woken up by the sound of Ed tapping something against the bars of the cell. You opened your eyes and saw that Ed was holding two mugs.

“Coffee?” Ed asked.

“Absolutely.” You grabbed the mug and took a drink. “…This is the worst coffee in the galaxy.”

Ed shrugged. “It’s what we have.”

“Then I’ll take it.” You replied and yawned.

“Do other planets actually have coffee?”

“No. Wait, yeah, there’s actually one that does.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”

You stood in silence drinking the coffee for a while.

_“Greed, we need food. Not disgusting coffee.”_

“Hey, uh, is this my breakfast or do I get something solid?”

“Ha! I was wondering how long it’d take you to ask.” Ed grabbed a small pail from just out of sight. Within was a small loaf of bread and a glass bottle of milk.

“Milk? You guys have a cow?”

_“Goats.”_

“Wait.” You interrupted Ed as he started to answer. “Goat’s milk? No way. It’s bad enough that you humans drink the milk of _one_ other animal, now you’re branching out? Sorry, I draw the line at drinking something that came out of a goat.”

Ed looked at you in surprise for a moment.

“Yes! Finally someone agrees with me! Milk is disgusting!”

“Even cow’s milk.” You added.

Ed smiled. You smiled. Ling felt...weird. Jealous.

Ed left to get to work in the greenhouse soon after. Once you had some privacy you questioned Ling.

“What? I can’t be friends with your friends?”

_“No, it’s not that. It was just weird when, for a moment there, he looked at us and only saw you. Yesterday with the crowd I could deal with it since they had no reason to believe I was still here but…it’s different with Ed.”_

“Okay, you’re close with him so you want him to acknowledge your presence. I get that. So where was this sad little feeling back when Lan Fan was beating the shit out of me?” You rubbed your sore face.

_“I think she was probably punching me too. For getting captured for her sake. Even if she didn’t know I was there.”_

“You guys and the old man need family therapy. If there are any human therapists left.”

_“Oh god, don’t remind me about Fu. Explaining this and Lan Fan’s arm to him won’t be fun.”’_

“Yeah.” You said through a mouthful of bread. “I’m actually happy they’ll be iron bars between him and us.”

_“Hey. Seriously. Drink the milk too.”_

“Nope.”

_“We need the calcium.”_

“Not. Gonna. Happen.”

_“Do it or I start singing Carly Rae Jepsen non-stop again.”_

You chugged the milk.

——

After a couple of hours Al showed up.

“Hey. You need to come show Dr. Knox how to use the medicine you brought. And don’t worry, Lan Fan is resting in her room, we won’t run into her.”

The walk to the infirmary was uneventful except for the looks you got as you walked by. The first was from Sig who was standing by the entrance to the brig, obviously standing guard, but more quickly followed. Those looks stung. Mostly it was Ling’s hurt at not being seen by his community, but it was also your offense at being seen, however fairly, as the enemy. And a little bit was your hurt at being the cause of Ling’s hurt.

When you got there you saw that Knox had laid out every single little spray-bottle of medicine that you had brought back on a table in neat little lines. He was standing behind the table and looking angry.

“Listen.” He said. “I don’t care who you are, I don’t care what you are, I don’t even care if Ling’s in there or not, you will show me the correct way to use all of this.” Now his voice started getting louder and louder until he was shouting. “And I swear, if a single person gets hurt because of what you tell me, if you lie in any way, I will hold you down and cut open Ling’s body, find _your_ real body, rip you out of him, and crush you under my foot! Do you understand?!”

“Yep.” You said, terrified. “Loud and clear.”

_“At least Dr. Knox is still acting the same around me.”_

“Hooray.” You said quietly and sarcastically.

You explained how to use each type of spray and what it was for, and demonstrated some of them on yourself to help with your painfully swollen face. By the time you were done you just had a barely visible black eye.

After you were done there Al started leading you towards the cafeteria.

“Uh, where are we going?” You asked.

“To lunch.” Al responded casually.

“I can just eat in my cell, it’s fine, really.”

“Nope. I insist.”

“I can go back to my cell without you.” You were starting to get a little pissed off.

“Do you really think running off on your own will look good?” Al responded with a shake of his head. “I don’t.”

Al was right and you knew it. You sighed in defeat and figured you’d just have to deal with what was waiting for you in the cafeteria.

Everyone there gave you dirty looks as you walked in and sat down. Izumi actually walked up to say something.

“Al, that thing can eat in its cell.”

“What’s he going to do here surrounded by all of us? Don’t you think we can take him in a fight, sensei?”

Izumi was the one who’d taught the Elric brothers martial arts. She’d done almost as good a job as Fu had teaching Lan Fan and Ling. Her and Fu sparred occasionally under the condition that no one ever found out who won.

Izumi gave you a critical look. You tried to look harmless.

“Okay.” She said after a moment. “But you don’t leave this table without it, I’ll get your food. And no silverware for either of you.”

Izumi left and soon returned with a plate and a glass of water for both of you. On the plate was an assortment of fruits and vegetables.

Al popped a blueberry into his mouth and spoke. “So, what’s outer space like?”

“Huh?” You were a bit put off by the question, by the fact that Al was talking to you at all. The kid was being absurdly nice, which Ling remembered was pretty in-character for him.

“You’re an alien, right? So what’s it like out there?”

A couple other people were looking over at the two of you with curiosity now.

“Uh, well, it’s big. And everywhere’s different.”

“What other planets have you been to?”

“Pretty much all of them, all the colonized ones I mean. There’s Dryad Planet, where there’s no animals, everything’s a plant. Squid Planet, which is completely underwater except for the tops of the highest mountains,”

By now a small group of people was listening intently.

“There’s Bee Planet, which is just fucking weird, Bat Planet where the sun is lethal and everything’s nocturnal, there’s The Origin, of course, and a few others. I think the closest one to earth in terms of society is…is Chimera Planet.”

“What’s that one like?” Al asked.

“I…I don’t want to talk about it.” You said. You looked around at the expectant faces. “Show’s over! Get back to whatever you were doing before!” You ate quickly, when you were done you told Al to take you back to your cell. He listened this time.

::::::

As you walked back you took a different path than the one that led through the main room and you found yourself in the residential area of the compound. You walked past many doors without paying them much mind until you saw an especially familiar one. You stopped walking. Al quickly noticed and turned around.

“Oh. Ling’s room…Do you want to go in?”

_“Yes.”_ Ling said insistently and with a heavy dose of homesickness. You nodded your head.

“We left everything exactly the way it was, in case he came back.” Al said as he opened the door.

_“I _did_ come back.”_ Ling said with heavy melancholy.

You recognized everything in the room. All the precious mementos Ling had seen fit to bring with him when he fled his home. A couple pictures of him, Lan Fan, and Fu at christmas, the complete works of Shakespeare and a book on Alexander Hamilton, the place where his sword used to hang before he’d lost it during that final fight. And, you knew, locked in the drawer of the bedside table was a picture of Ling’s mother. A small trunk at the end of the bed contained all the clothes he had, many of them scavenged from empty houses since what Ling had been able to bring with him from his own home was unfit for such cold weather.

You could feel how desperately Ling wanted to flop down in his bed and curl up under his quilt. How much he wanted to wear his own clothes, to be here with his own things in the place he had stubbornly and uncompromisingly made into his home.

You felt tears well up your eyes and you let them fall. You sat down on the bed and wrapped your arms around yourself and sobbed. After a minute Al sat down beside you and put a hand on your shoulder.

When you had run out of tears Al went over to the trunk and pulled out a pair of white sweatpants, a yellow sweater and some thick socks.

“I just realized, you were in the woods with my brother for _days_. You definitely need a shower and a change of clothes. I’ll lead you to the showers before we go back to your cell.”

“Thank you.” You said, with an abundance of feeling.

“You’re welcome.” Al said with intense sincerity.

Later, once you were back in your cell, Al had stopped by and brought you the copy of the complete works of Shakespeare that Ling had had in his room.

“I thought you might be bored.” He said with a smile in his voice.

You thought Al must be the nicest human on this planet. The knowledge that your people would have killed and discarded him for his body’s defects sickened you. Of course, the thought of Al, of any of these people, being taken over by one of your kind was also starting to sicken you. Or at the very least you were feeling Ling’s disgust. You remembered dealing with similar feelings back on Chimera Planet as you had gotten close to your little gang of stolen friends, you tried your best to block out the memory. You picked up the book and worked on burying yourself in it.

::::::

_“This is the most like myself I’ve felt in more than a month.”_

Ling said, practically glowing with contentment at wearing his own clothes and reading one of his own books, and you were happy for him too. Even though you had made sure to voice your displeasure at Ling’s fashion sense.

Just then you and Ling heard a small crash, and looked up from Much Ado About Nothing to see Ed, his face slack with shock, and the pail containing your dinner on the floor at his feet. After a moment Ed snapped out of it and picked up the pail.

“I’m sorry. You just looked so much like…for a second I…I’m sorry.” He handed you your dinner and quickly left.

“Well, that was a buzzkill.” You said as you took a bite of cornbread. “You okay, kid?”

_“Yes. He just needs to get used to seeing us looking more like me.”_

“Yeah.” You said, preoccupied.

You ate the rest of your food and got into bed and waited for the lights to turn off before you spoke again.

“Ling…I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this happened to you, that I happened to you.”

_“Thank you, Greed.”_ Ling said after a moment.

You pulled the blankets tighter around your shoulders and slept.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm updating so late, I've been busy trying to be as spooky as possible for Halloween.

……

“Alright, why did you call me over to your room so early in the morning?”

“So y’know how we decided that even though we were gonna do christmas it would just be a special meal and no one should expect any presents?” Ed asked.

Ling sighed. “Yes.”

“Well, I have something that I’ve been working on for a while that just happens to be done today.”

“Ed, really—”

“Remember all those thin t-shirts you had that you couldn’t wear anymore because of the cold?”

“The ones I got rid of because carrying extra weight is foolish?”

“Right. Well, I went back for them and using my considerable sewing skills I made…” Ed ducked back into his room and grabbed something out from under his bed. “This!”

Ed handed Ling a quilt made from all of his old shirts. He could clearly see the logos and slogans of summer camps and vacation spots. All of the memories he had tried to save but had had to leave behind were there in his hands again. Tears filled his eyes.

“Ed…I don’t know what to say, I…Wait here.” Ling sprinted the short distance back to his own room, arranged the quilt on his bed, and dug around in his clothing drawer until he found what he was looking for. Then he sprinted back.

“Here. I know you love your stupid red hoodie so much so here’s something red to wear in the colder months.” Ling handed him a sweatshirt. “I know it’s too big and there’s a 99% chance you have no affiliation with the Washington High School marching band, but consider it another opportunity to use your considerable sewing skills.” He said with a grin.

“Thanks, Ling.” Ed said, smiling wide.

The two boys hugged each other.

“Now come on,” Ed said. “Granny’s making the hot chocolate we found.”

……

...... 

When you awoke you saw Lan Fan staring silently down at you through the cell bars. Her gaze struck you like barbs pulling out your heart.

“You look better.” You said. It was all you could think to say and it was true.

She was wearing a loose jacket over her bandages and her hair was tied up. All traces of her former weakness were gone from her face and posture. She looked imposing, strong, and stern. She looked like herself. Ling was happy to see her looking this way.

_“Thank you, Greed. For getting that medicine for her. If she’s okay then all of this will have been worth it.”_

You were a bit thrown off by this level of kindness and gratitude from Ling, the kid was definitely getting more friendly with you now that he was back home, but this was a whole nother level and it left you a bit off balance.

Then Lan Fan spoke.“What does your kind know about remaining pockets of human resistance?”

“Huh?”

“Answer, parasite.”

“I, uh, didn’t tell them anything about you guys, I swear. Those memories were blocked until I came here.”

“Did they already know anything? What about other pockets of free humans? Are there any out there that they know of?”

“Listen, I don’t know! I don’t know anything about what the Seekers know or don’t know.”

“But you are one of the Sins. You command the Seekers.”

“My father commands the Seekers, not me. Some of my brothers work for him in that department but I was just his bodyguard, and I hadn’t even started work yet on this world!”

“So you want me to believe that no one told you anything, that they didn’t even talk about it around you?”

“I tried to spend as little time with them as possible. Besides, this was my last chance, I doubt they thought it’d be a good idea to trust me with any important information.”

“So then you are completely useless to us. Give me one good reason why we should let you stay here.”

You sighed. “There isn’t one. Except that Ling’s still here and we don’t have anywhere else to go.”

She stared at you for a long moment. Then she handed you your breakfast.

“Eat quickly. If you are going to eat our food you will help with the harvest.”

She unlocked your cell and waited by the door leading to the stairwell. Soon, you showed up wearing your old outfit, minus the jacket. You had also ripped the sleeves off your shirt.

“Why change clothes?” Lan Fan asked.

“Because the greenhouses are hot as hell compared to out here and I don’t want to get my—the clean clothes all sweaty.”

Lan Fan silently led you to the top level of the compound. Nearly every room there had been converted into a greenhouse for growing crops. The ceilings were lined with mirrors to reflect sunlight from the skylights that had been cut into them, and the walls were lined with electric lights that Winry had gotten to work. The end result was that the rooms were bright and hot, perfect for growing things. They had gone out and scavenged for soil and seeds and grew whatever they could. There were bushes full of berries, vegetables on vines and stalks, and fields of wheat and corn. This was the compound’s greatest accomplishment and Ling was filled with a fierce pride upon looking at it.

Lan Fan marched you over to the wheat field and handed you a sickle with a look on her face that made it clear that if the blade was used for anything other than its intended purpose it would be the last thing you ever did. You could see others already working there and in the nearby corn field. They stopped and stared at you. One of them looked like they were going to say something until Lan Fan gave them a look. Then they nodded and went back to work.

“Get to work.” She said. And grabbed her own sickle.

“Should you be working so soon after—”

“Get. To. Work.”

The work was hard, and it took time and focus. After a couple of minutes you saw Izumi standing off to the side of the field holding a shotgun. She was staring directly at you. Your gut grew could with fear.

_“Just a precaution. A reasonable one.”_ Ling said, but it was clear he was worried too. _“Let’s just try not to think about it.”_

“Agreed.” Still, you were_ very careful_ about how you held your sickle, and tried to look as harmless as you could.

While you reaped the wheat Ling passed the time and kept your minds off the gun by singing the soundtrack to Hamilton in your head. It was right on the line between entertaining and annoying. Around the time he got to act two Jerso went to get water for everyone. When he came back he hesitated before giving any water to you. He looked to Lan Fan questioningly. She nodded her head and Jerso handed you a glass. You gulped the water quickly and appreciatively, then handed the empty glass back to Jerso.

“Thanks.” You said. Jerso just walked away.

_“He lost a wife and daughter to the invasion.”_ Ling reminded you.

“That’s not _my_ fault.” You whispered under your breath as you got back to work.

_“No. But he sees you as part of the problem. And his anger is understandable.”_

“Yeah, yeah.” You muttered around the tight ball of guilt forming in your gut. “Just go back to singing.”

After the day’s work was done and you had showered and changed back into Ling’s clothes you saw Ed, waiting for you and carrying everything you’d left in the cell.

“What’s going on?” You asked.

“Good news, me and Al convinced everyone that it’s okay to let you sleep in Ling’s room as long as someone stands guard by the door at night.”

“Really?” You asked, radiating Ling’s happiness. “Even Lan Fan agreed?”

“Well, she’s not happy, but she didn’t fight us on it, just walked away. So we're doing it.”

You beamed. Even though Lan Fan’s reaction hurt and a part of you felt like you didn’t belong in Ling’s room, you couldn’t wait to wrap yourself up in Ling’s warm quilt and get what you were sure was going to be a good night’s sleep on a real bed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to sound like a broken record but I apologize for the long wait, I've been sick.

……

Ling emptied as much food from the fridge and pantry as he could into his bag and filled up the canteens strapped to his belt from the sink. This was risky. When the owner of the house got home they would know that he had been here, then the Seekers would start looking for him. They’d have to get far away from here fast. But they were desperate, they needed this food. Ling was already feeling unsteady on his feet from hunger. He hurried back to the spot at the edge of the woods where Lan Fan was keeping watch.

“I got it. Let’s go.” He said as he ran up, but then he saw that Lan Fan wasn’t alone.

A dark shape lit in silhouette in the moonlight had her pinned on the ground. He shone a small flashlight into her eyes.

“You’re human!” He exclaimed. Just then Ling tackled him.

He pinned the smaller boy to the ground and tried to get a hand over his mouth to keep him from screaming.

“Wait!” The boy said insistently but quietly. “Look.” He wriggled until he had the flashlight pointed at Ling’s eyes, then his own. “See, we’re all human.”

“What is that light supposed to prove?” Ling asked. But he was already starting to believe the boy, the only reason one of _them_ wouldn’t be screaming for help right now was if it was a Seeker, and he’d never seen a seeker this young. Probably the same age as him.

“The demons, that’s what I call them, they all have reflective red rings in their eyes, haven’t you noticed?”

“I haven’t had too many run-ins with them.” Ling thought back to the few times he seen someone possessed up close. He did recall seeing something weird in one’s eyes once or twice.

“Lucky.” The boy pinned under him said. “We’ve had a few close calls. Just, please believe me. My name is Edward Elric, and I’m _human_.”

Ling paused. Thought.

“Do I have to pull off my arm to prove it to you?”

“What?”

Then he heard approaching footsteps. Lan Fan moved to put herself between the newcomers and Ling.

“Brother!” A young voice shouted as two figures came into view.

“Al!” Edward shouted back. “They’re human.”

“Lan Fan, Ling, stand down. These boys really are themselves.” Fu commanded from next to Al.

“But grandfather, how do you know?” Lan Fan asked.

Al and Fu were fully in view now and Al took off the hood of his oversized jacket.

“The aliens wouldn’t want someone like me.” He said through a heavily scarred face.

After a moment Ling looked down at Edward.

“You’re human. You’re really human!” He was smiling wide, his voice was full of wonder.

“Yeah.” Edward replied in a similar tone. For a moment they just looked at each other, both smiling

“Um, you can get off of him now.” Al said.

“Oh, yes, right.” Ling blushed as he moved away and let the other boy get to his feet.

“Can you guys wait here for us just for a few minutes? We need to get what we can from that house and bring it back to Winry and Granny.”

“There’s more of you!” Ling exclaimed happily.

“Yeah, two more. You can follow us back to where they’re hiding out once we raid this house.”

“They’ll be so happy to meet you!” Al added.

“Hold on.” Said Fu. “Not that we’re not happy to see more human faces, but who said we weren’t going our separate ways?”

“Oh.” Edward said, disappointed.

“Wait! Of course we’re staying with them!” Ling argued. “The remaining humans out here need to stick together, and we’ll be safer in a larger group.”

“Not necessarily.” Fu countered.

“We _need_ each other. These boys have had enough close encounters to know a lot more about our enemy than we do and Edward could hold his own against Lan Fan in a fight. We’re staying together.”

“Fine.” Fu acquiesced.

“Welcome to the human resistance, Edward. My name is Ling Yao.” Ling put out his hand. The other boy took it.

“Call me Ed.”

……  
……

Izumi came and sat down across from you in the dining hall the next day as you finished your dinner. She had the shotgun casually slung over her shoulder, as she did when she watched over Ling’s room at night. And it _was_ usually her. You had no idea how she functioned on so little sleep.

“So. Tell me about your family.”

You looked around and noticed that everyone had stopped eating but still lingered in the room. Of course, you should have been expecting this, Lan Fan’s earlier interrogation had hardly seemed official. Ed was next to you, he placed a hand on your shoulder reassuringly.

“I already told Lan Fan, the Seekers know nothing about you guys.”

Lan Fan looked embarrassed from her seat across the room. The expression was so familiar to Ling that you felt an indescribable amount of fondness filling up your chest.

“But _I_ want to know about _them_.” Izumi’s face was almost daring. “You’re wanted for rebelling, how about you do something for the rebellion?”

You sighed in acceptance. “Let’s start with the easy one. My sister is dead, a human killed her with a flamethrower shortly before I got here.”

“I’d rather you start at the beginning.” She said.

You sighed again. You wished you'd never have to think about your family again, much less talk about them. “My father is very, _very_ old. He started of on The Origin, our homeworld, before any other planets were colonized. He was one of the first Seekers, and he still oversees the colonization of most worlds. If my kind were to have a leader, he would be the closest thing to it.”

“And what about your siblings?”

“My father choose to create offspring so he could have more people working for him. My kind feels a deep obligation to the one who spawned them. Most parents don’t take advantage of this feeling too much but my father did. We were his team of Seekers, his muscle, his workhorses, and, uh, his bodyguards.”

“Did he give you your names?” Al asked. “They’re pretty weird compared to most of you guy’s names, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, uh, most of my kind choose their own names but Father wanted to brand us as different parts of himself psychologically as well as physically. The translation of our names on The Origin has more of a connotation of usefulness. He framed our creation as getting rid of anything bad in himself to create tools he could use.”

This earned a few looks from the crowd.

“Yeah, my people think its weird too but no one says anything because they don’t want to get on Dad’s bad side.”

“Which of your siblings act as Seekers?” Izumi continued, ignoring the tangent on your name.

“Everyone but me and Sloth. We’re the bodyguards. The one I saw the most of was Wrath. This is his first life but he was… his body got put on ice while he took a trip to Chimera Planet to… retrieve me.” You tried not to think about your own past and focus on Wrath. “He’s the one Ling was fighting when… When Lan Fan got hurt. Him and Gluttony and their squadron. He uses swords when he fights but he’s just as dangerous as someone with a gun.”

“One more question, why did you rebel against them?”

You thought hard. “I… I was tired of not getting to live my own life. And they took something from me I can never get back and I just can’t forgive that.”

“Okay.” Izumi moved to get up.

“Wait,” you stopped her. “There’s more about my father. Usually he planet-hops pretty frequently after the initial colonization of his most current planet is done. He goes around everywhere, checking on things and dragging me with him. I don’t think I’ve ever lived a full lifespan in the same body. But there’s something different about Earth. He hasn’t left once since he got here.”

Izumi considered this. Then she considered you.“Why give up all this information so easily?”

“Why not? They want me dead. And if you do too you don’t seem as willing to follow through on it. I have a vested interest in helping you and hurting them.”

“Don’t you have any greater loyalty to your species? Most of you parasites seem to be all about the ‘greater good’.”

You thought again of what would happen to these people if they were discovered by your kind.

“No. I don’t.”

::::::

Things were tense for several days. The humans tolerated your presence as you worked and ate and slept amongst them but things were always quieter than usual when you were around. But over time people began to ignore you more. Eventually you at least weren’t bothering anyone enough to upset their daily routine. Ling grew happier and happier as things got closer to normal. He still missed his old life, you could feel that, but he was no longer angry with you for taking it from him. Which was nice but kinda weird.

“Why?” You whispered to him one night as you lay in bed. “Why aren’t you pissed at me?”

_“Because you did the right thing. You rebelled, and you didn’t even want to come to earth, it’s not your fault you were brought here. And… you’ve done all you can to give me back my life, given the circumstances.”_

That wasn’t entirely true, there was something else you could do, but nothing could possibly convince you to actually tell anyone about _that_, you weren’t suicidal.  
So you kept that particular train of thought to yourself.

Though the others had grown to tolerate you, Lan Fan still looked at you in anger, and tended to avoid you. Ling knew from experience that there was pain behind that anger and knowing that she was hurting hurt you through him, so you tried not to think about her too much with mixed success. Meaning no success. Meaning you thought about her all the damned time.

::::::

One day, over dinner, Al asked you to talk more about some of the other worlds you’d been on. You agreed, reluctantly. You figured a lot of people wouldn’t like hearing those stories. But Ed and Al listened intently and as you went on you got more animated in your storytelling and by the time you had finished discussing the perilous seasonal migrations of the Dryad Planet’s forests you realized almost everyone in the room was staring at you. Many had long since finished eating. Their faces held looks of curiosity rather than disgust. You allowed yourself a small smile and finished talking.

“_That was a good choice of story.”_ Ling complimented you as you walked back to your room, unescorted. _“Nothing too upsetting and very entertaining. I think a lot of people enjoyed it, I know I did.”_

“Thanks, kid.” You said. You were getting the hang of just thinking what you wanted to say to Ling, but you still talked aloud when you were alone, it was easier. “I can, in fact, be diplomatic when I want to.”

As the days went on you were asked to tell more stories and more people started listening, even the ones who still didn’t like you. It became your role, your niche in this little community. You were the entertainment. You were perfectly fine with that, you greatly enjoyed being the center of attention when that attention wasn’t openly hostile. Ling appreciated that this led to you being treated almost like any other member of the group even when you weren’t telling stories. Even if it brought back his jealousy at these people not truly seeing him. They even stopped putting a guard outside your door at night.

Ed and Al both believed Ling was still present by now, but Ling wasn’t sure anyone else did. You and Ling made an educated guess that the general consensus was that you had truly rebelled against your family, but had lied about Ling’s presence in order to get Ed to bring you here. Mainly because one day, while washing dishes, Granny had told you exactly that. She had added that there were people, her included, who would never forgive you for supposedly lying to her boys like that. You suspected the list also included the Curtises, and Winry seemed to flip back and forth between that view and maybe possibly starting to believe you.

You figured it was the best you could hope for. Ling was frustrated. He missed the relationships he’d had with these people. He used to be obnoxiously flirtatious with Winry, just to annoy Ed, they’d both chuckle whenever he stormed off in a huff. Granny had treated him almost as much like her own son as she treated the Elrics. Beneath her tough exterior she couldn’t help but be a bit of a parent to every child she came across. Ling knew that her own son had died years before the invasion began in earnest, maybe that was why. Izumi had also lost her own child, a stillbirth, and one time when Ling had carried Ed back from a scavenging mission injured but alive she and Sig both had hugged him and thanked him for a solid five minutes. Now none of these people even saw him. Even with Ed, who did _really_ see him and never forgot he was a part of the conversation, there was still no way for things to be the way they were before. Ling’s sadness made you guilty enough to make you and him feel sick to your stomach.

It was different with Darius and Heinkel, they had never known Ling. You spent a lot of time with them and when you did Ling kind of faded into the background. A silent observer whose emotions you felt detachedly instead of overwhelmingly. They also had their own stories, tales of the danger of living on the run that fascinated you just as much as they did everyone else.

But being on the run was, as everyone here knew, sparse moments of exciting danger interspersed with long stretches of fear and boredom, so they ran out of stories a lot faster than you with your two hundred years and nine planets worth of experience. Now that you had this role, this job as a storyteller, and it looked like no one was going to shoot you, and you even had a couple of people who were_ your_ friends, you were starting to feel like this place just might work out as _your_ home. Not just Ling’s. You expected this to upset Ling, but instead he was happy.

_“We both belong here Greed. And you becoming more accepted means I don’t have to deal with so much of your angst in my head.”_

“I do _not_ angst.”

_“Yes you do.”_

“No I don’t!”

Ling just laughed in response.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but an important one.

::::::

“You’ve never told us anything about Chimera Planet.” Al said to you one night at dinner.

“Sure I have.”

“You've told us about the people there and what the planet itself is like but not anything about your life when you lived there.”

“Yeah.” Ed chimed in. “You’ve told us interesting things that happened to you on all of the other planets.”

Out of everyone, the Elric brothers loved your stories the most. They had been avid sci-fi fans before the invasion and were hungry for information about alien civilizations that was not only new, but truthful. That isn’t to say that the rest of the group didn’t, in some cases begrudgingly, enjoy the stories, but Ed and Al usually led the discussion, asking questions and prompting you when they thought you were being too reticent.

You were, however, determined to remain reticent on this particular topic. “What if nothing worth telling happened there?” You tried to sound casual.

“_Something_ happened there.” Ed said, a bit more serious.

“Huh?”

“You’ve told us that you went with your father whenever he left a planet, but he was here for years before you were. You’ve also told us that Chimera Planet was where you were before you got here. _Something_ happened. I want to know what.”

You were shocked. You’d never considered that these storytelling sessions could also be covert interrogations. You were also a little hurt. You considered Ed a friend, and not just because Ling did.

_“Ed’s nice, but he’s also practical. Of course he’s been paying attention.”_ Ling said, almost proudly.

You sighed. “Most of you aren’t going to believe I’m telling the truth.”

“I don’t know, you’re a pretty shitty liar.” Heinkel retorted. Several people laughed. You were not one of them.

“Okay fine, you want to know what happened? Gather fucking ‘round.”

You told them. You told them about rebelling, about running off with a group of unpossessed chimeras, about living the life of an outlaw. You told them about the chimeras. Dolcetto had had an infectious smile and laugh, even if both were only seen rarely. Martel had been angry and a bit antisocial, but she’d had the best sense of humor. Roa was reserved and quiet, but was smarter than he looked. Bido was fiercely loyal, and loud and funny and happy, he’d been so scared at the end. You told them about the end. About the first time you met your youngest brother. You told them how every single one of the only beings you’d ever called friends had died. By the time you got to the part about your memories being painfully taken from you tears were streaming down your face. You’d long since given up on holding them back. Ling was trying to comfort you, telling you you’d done the best you could have. Everyone else was staring at you wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Even Lan Fan.

“You expect us to believe this?!” She yelled, trying to hold on to her anger at the being that had taken Ling away from her.

“No.” You mumbled.

“This stupid little story about you being a good guy all along?!”

“If I’d been any good then they wouldn’t have died.” You responded louder. Lan Fan stormed out of the room.

Granny stood up as she did. “Alright everyone, dinner’s over! I know you all have better things to be doing than sitting here, go do them!” People started leaving the dining hall. “You too, boys.” She said to the Elric brothers.

“But, Granny…” Ed started, looking over at you, seeing how you were so clearly devastated.

“Ed. Go.” Granny insisted. The brothers reluctantly left.

Granny sat down across from you once the room was empty.

“I told you you’d think I was lying.” You said.

“No, I believe you. And I think just about everyone else does too. Heinkel was right about you being a shit liar, Greed.” Granny took out her pipe and lit it. “Yeah, I believe you…y’know I wasn’t sure before that you parasites could actually feel emotions like people do. But this,” She gestured to you. “This is a whole lot of feeling.”

“What’s the point of this conversation, Pinako? I just want to go to bed.”

“Well, if you can feel things then that means you must feel something for all of us. Because Ling did, and you have his memories, if nothing else. And memories come with feelings, and it makes sense that those feelings would affect your own.”

“Most of my kind try to block out their host’s memories and feelings.” You said.

“Not you though?” It was barely a question.

“No. Not me.”

“You care about my boys, the Elrics, like Ling did?” Again, she wasn’t really uncertain.

“Yes.” You confirmed.

“So you wouldn’t do anything to hurt them?”

“I don’t think I _could_.”

Granny seemed satisfied with this. “Okay. You can go to bed, Greed.”

“Thanks.” You replied bitterly. You got up and started to leave.

“Tell Ling I said goodnight.”

You stopped in your tracks. You turned around slowly. “He, uh, He can hear you.”

“Good to know.” Granny said. “And that’s enough of you using my first name, Greed, you don’t know me like that. You can call me ‘Granny’ like everyone else.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Granny.” You walked back to Ling’s room and decided that anything you needed to think about or consider could wait until morning. Right now you needed to sleep off your painful remembrances.


	11. Chapter 11

……

“You cannot just hit another child, you have embarrassed our family!” Fu scolded from the driver's seat.

“I’m sorry, Grandfather.”

“She was defending me!” Ling yelled, leaning forward to place himself as much in front of Lan Fan as he could.

“… Is this true?” Fu asked.

“Yes, Grandfather.” Lan Fan said. “The other kid was making fun of Ling, laughing at his accent, calling him an orphan, saying his father would not care if he lived or died.”

Fu considered this. “Did the boy hit you back?”

“No, he just screamed and ran away to go tell a teacher.” Ling answered for her.

“And did you hurt you hand?”

“No. I did it just like you taught me, Grandfather.”

“Okay… Do not do this again.”

“I won’t. I promise.” Lan Fan said, appropriately shamed.

“Good.” Fu said, satisfied. “Then I believe your own remorse is punishment enough.” He looked at the children in his rearview mirror and smiled.

……

...... 

Things were different after you told the others about chimera planet. Over the next few days people began really treating you like just another one of them. You finally felt at home among the humans.

Which is why it really sucked when something happened to upset that sense of home.

You were having lunch in the dining hall, actually having a real conversation with Izumi, probably for the first time, when Zampano ran in, out of breath. Everyone stopped eating. Zampano had been on guard duty.

“I tried to explain everything but after awhile he just pushed past me!” He yelled.

Before anyone could ask any questions a figure showed up at the room’s other entrance. It was Fu.

Upon seeing him you clumsily dropped your food and ran to the back of the room. You cowered against the back wall like a frightened animal and put your hands up in both surrender and defense.

_“Fu! He’s back safe!”_ Ling said, relieved and happy.

_“Yep.”_ You thought at him. _“And now he’s going to kill us.”_

_“He would never hurt me.”_ But Ling’s tone was a bit uncertain.

_“He doesn’t see_ you_.”_

Fu stormed over to you and the crowd parted to let him. You didn’t blame them, Fu was an unstoppable force. Some people tried to say something to him but he silenced them all with glares. Ling was just as scared as you were, all happiness at seeing Fu had been swallowed by the look on his face. Ling was suddenly aware that he had failed. He had failed to protect the man’s granddaughter and he had failed to not get caught by the enemy.

You stared wide-eyed as Fu raised a hand to hit you. It was true that Fu would never even think to hurt Ling, but apparently the old man didn’t extend the same privilege to Ling’s body. You winced preemptively and closed your eyes.

The blow never came.

You opened your eyes to see Lan Fan standing in front of you, blocking Fu’s attack with her remaining arm.

“Lan Fan. Step aside. It isn’t him anymore.” Fu said coldly.

“It’s still his body, Grandfather. And Ed believes his mind is still in there.”

“Insolent girl!” Fu yelled and slapped her. The crowd gasped. “It is your fault Ling was captured, Zampano told me that much. Had you not let yourself get injured this would never have happened!”

Righteous anger was beginning to build in both you and Ling. You reached out to try to grab Fu’s wrist.

“You leave her alone, old man! She’s done more than enough to protect—”

Fu flipped you onto the floor before he could react. You landed hard on your back. Lan Fan fell to her knees and began crying.

“You’re right, Grandfather, it is my fault, I was weak. I failed. I’m so sorry.”

Fu looked down at them. The anger on his face slowly turned to shock.

“Your arm… it’s really gone… And Ling…”

“Fu.” It was Izumi. She had worked her way to the front of the crowd. “Ed truly believes Ling’s mind is still in there. And I trust Ed enough to believe him on this.”

“Then have Dr. Knox rip the parasite out of him.” Fu demanded. He was calmer now but still agitated.

“Do you really want to risk that after what happened the last time he tried it?”

Your blood ran cold. You knew what must have happened. _“Last time?”_ You mentally asked Ling.

_“She was just a little kid. Ed thought we could save her. He still blames himself.”_

“To at least _try_ to save Ling would be better than to let the enemy roam free among us!” Fu said. He looked at the crowd gathered around him. “What is wrong with you people? Why not at least lock it in a cell?!”

“He’s not the enemy.” Izumi said calmly. “He rebelled against his people. We have proof of that.”

“And that means we let it walk around wearing the face of my… of the child I swore to protect? The face of the one who founded this place and saved all of you?!” Fu looked as though he might start crying.

“We’re making him work for his food. You can’t fault us for that, at least. Look. Why don’t you come with me and report on your meeting with the militia. Then we can talk about all of _this_ later.” Izumi gently led Fu away and he let her.

Lan Fan got to her feet. She held a hand down to help you up off the floor and you accepted it.

“Thanks.”

She just walked away.

_“I’d like to reiterate what I said about your family needing therapy.”_ You snarked hollowly.

Ling was in turmoil. Seeing the closest thing he had to a parent hurt him and Lan Fan had left him with decidedly mixed emotions. Mostly he just wanted to go back to his room and finally break down. Seeing Fu again after so long had been the final straw against his front of relentless optimism. He was sad, he was angry, he missed his relationships with his family and goddammit he wanted his body back.

Just then Ed walked up to you. “You okay? Both of you?” He asked.

“Honestly? No. But we expected things to go pretty much this way. Look, it’d probably be best if I went back to my cell for the night.”

“No. Nothing’s going to change.” Ed said.

“And what if Fu shows up in the middle of the night to strangle me?”

“He wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t kill Ling’s body.”

“You believe that? After this?”

“Yes.”

A part of Ling still believed it too.

_“Optimist.”_ You thought at him bitterly.

“But,” Ed continued. “Just in case, I’ll be staying in your room tonight, standing guard.”

Your pulse quickened. Ling’s emotions rose in you like a cloud of warm air and you had to fight not to blush.

“Great.” You said sarcastically. “A sleepover.”

::::::

It was weird, having someone else in your room. Ling’s room. Both of yours room. Whatever, it was weird. It’s not like people had never been in the room before but never while you were sleeping. Never at night.

Nights in this room were a time and place where you and Ling could be alone with your thoughts, without interactions with other people complicating things. It was peaceful. It was maybe something you both needed after what had happened earlier.

Ed, sitting on top of his sleeping bag next to the bed, was disturbing that peace. Even after the lights were out and you had stopped talking you felt hyper-aware of Ed’s presence in the room. Ling felt the same way, but his feelings were tinged with others.

He wanted to talk to Ed about everything and nothing, wanted to recreate the nights before the compound when they had slept in adjacent sleeping bags. He wanted to be able to have a real, normal conversation with Ed. He wanted to tell Ed, who he knew was always taking naps, that he wasn’t going to be able to stay awake all night and if he got tired it was okay for them to share the bed.

You shut down Ling’s train of thought right there. _“I’ve had to deal with enough today without adding your teenage hormones to the list.”_

_“It’s not like that. I just miss the way things were between us.”_

_“You miss him different than you miss the others.”_

_“Shut up! These are my emotions! They should not be yours to pick through and psychoanalyze!”_

It was true, so you dropped the subject. You figured that since you took Ling’s body from him it was the least you could do to let the kid fantasize a little. Then your internal conversation was interrupted by its subject.

“Greed? Can you do me a favor?”

“Uh yeah, sure, Ed. What is it?”

“Can you just… not talk for awhile and just let me talk to Ling? Let me pretend that we’re having a normal conversation?”

You felt guilt weigh heavy in your chest. The weight had been there all day but now it had pretty much doubled.

“Sure thing, Ed. Absolutely.”

Ed talked about everything and nothing. About his hopes for the future and how much he missed cheetos, tv, and apple pie. He talked about how he was getting restless and might want to go out on a scavenging mission soon. He even talked about the possibility of bringing you along on the mission but dismissed it in the end due to your status as a wanted man.

When Ed was done talking you were sorry for it, Ed’s voice had triggered a familiar relaxing feeling in you that had distracted you from the day’s events. But now, as you dutifully listed off Ling’s responses to what Ed had said, your mind drifted back to something that had been said earlier.

“Ed.” You said seriously after a moment.

“Yeah.”

“Did you really try to take one of… try to take a parasite out of someone.”

It was a moment before Ed spoke.

“Her name was Nina. She was probably around six years old at most.”

“Shit.”

“Something went wrong… Doctor Knox says maybe if he could try again he could figure out what happened and then start saving people, but I refused to let him try. I don’t think I could live with any more blood on my hands. He didn’t really want to try again anyway.”

“It’s not your fault. There’s no way you could have removed the parasite successfully.”

“But there _is_ a way, your Healers do it all the time. Do you know how?”

“No.” You lied. And for once your lie was convincing, you even blocked the truth from Ling. You were sure that if these people knew how to remove you without killing Ling they would do so in a heartbeat, leaving you to die hostless. Some of them might be friendly with you, but they all wanted Ling back. And you couldn’t blame them. “Goodnight, Ed.” You said to end the conversation.

“Goodnight.”

The subject lingered on your mind though. As tragic as it was that these people had accidentally killed such a young child (you found, to your mild surprise, that you couldn’t care less about whoever of your kind they had killed), it was probably the only thing that had kept you alive this whole time. The knowledge that Ling would die too was what kept them from ripping you out of him as soon as you got here.

You knew it was sick to feel thankful for that but you did. And as much as it was because you didn’t want to die, it was just as much because you didn’t want Ling to die either.

::::::

The next morning was kind of awkward. You woke up to the sound of Ed softly snoring, which Ling found endearing. Ed was tired from attempting to stay up all night but you hadn’t slept well either. You yawned. The previous night you had been kept awake by a rush of fear every time you heard footsteps nearby. But no assassin had crept into the room and eventually you both had to get up and get on with your day.

You walked over to the sleeping bad and gently shook Ed's shoulder. Ed’s eyes opened fractionally then closed again. “Nnn. Go ‘way Ling.” He murmured, still half asleep.

You felt a jab of pain and guilt like a javelin running through your chest. “Sorry, Ed. Time to come back to reality.” You shook him harder until he was fully awake.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got sick again :/ But I've built up enough strength to finally give y'all another chapter after... yikes. Nearly a month. Hopefully I'll get to feeling better and updates will be quicker in the future, especially since this is a short chapter. Anyway, prepare for angst!

::::::

Things over the next few days were tense. Actually, that’s an understatement, things were Cold War levels of tense.

Fu didn’t seem to object to you working to maintain the compound, but you always had one of the Elric brothers with you guarding you just in case. And, after that first night, you convinced Ed that it was for the best if you slept in a sleeping bag in the Elric’s room instead of in Ling’s. Ling missed being in his own room but Ed and Al’s room was so familiar to him that it almost felt the same.

Another change was that you stopped telling stories. In fact, you almost stopped talking altogether, only ever saying what you absolutely needed to. You felt like you were being eaten alive by guilt that was getting stronger every passing second that you were living Ling’s life. It got to the point where even Ling thought you were being too hard on yourself, but that just made you feel worse.

Fu’s return had finally put things fully in perspective for you, you finally really got it. You, your entire race, was the bad guy. With every breath you took with your stollen lungs you were taking a moment of life away from Ling, who at this point was probably your best friend, as sad as that was. And there were billions more of your people throughout the galaxy doing the same to other innocent people. The thought of it made you nauseous. Every little thing you enjoyed about your life was soured by the knowledge that it shouldn’t be you living it.

Still, you were unwilling to share the secret that would condemn you, even through all of this, you wanted to live. A part of you hated yourself for it but you wanted to live.

Ling didn’t really know how to react to your feelings. On the one hand, he couldn’t disagree with you, but on the other he didn’t actually want you to feel this way. It was completely crazy and illogical but Ling didn’t want his bodysnatcher to be this upset. You knew Ling felt this way, of course you did, but it almost made you feel even worse.

One night, while you were wallowing in your feelings in your sleeping bag, Ling decided he’d had enough.

_“Greed. Stop moping.”_

_“Why should I?”_ You thought back.

_“Because you need to let yourself be happy and enjoy life.”_

_“No. I don’t deserve that.”_

_“But I do! We share our emotions, remember? Look, I appreciate the sympathy for humanity and for me in particular but lately our head has been a real fucking bummer. Let it go. That’s what you can do to improve my situation. Get back to living so I can get back to living in the only way that I can.”_

Lings words shocked and deeply affected you, you hadn’t thought of it that way. _“Okay.” You thought. “I’m going to do my best to make the most of this life. For both of us.”_


	13. Chapter 13

::::::

Over the next few weeks things slowly grew less tense. Lan Fan and Fu still avoided you and you didn’t blame them, even if the sight of them looking at you with hatred in their eyes nearly broke Ling’s heart. But you knew it must be hard for the people who loved Ling the most to be around you, you had no idea how Ed managed it, so you just left them alone and they left you alone.

With the others, though, you started to get more friendly again. You talked, you laughed, you interacted like you were a regular part of their lives. You even started telling stories again, just never when Fu and Lan Fan were around. By the time you had been there for close to two months, you felt like your life could be considered pretty close to normal. Both you and Ling were grateful for that.

Then, in one moment, everything changed.

The electric lights that were still functioning lit up red. Everyone all throughout the compound dropped what they were doing. Lan Fan left her post watching the outside and ran into the most crowded room, the cafeteria, and called out a single word.

“Seekers!”

Your heart started pounding and your breathing quickened. You were almost lost in your own feeling of sheer panic and Ling’s terror certainly wasn’t helping. Eventually you managed to get to your feet and run to join the others.

——

“His name was Ling Yao.” You said. You adjusted your position in the chair, you had to admit that, for an interrogation room, it was comfortable. It looked more like an office. Except the only decoration was Wrath’s swords hanging on the wall, and they didn’t look decorative. “He grew up in—”

“How many people were he travelling with.” Wrath asked almost cheerfully.

“Two. No, five. Three? It’s fuzzy. Maybe I need more time?” You had been brought here directly from the hospital almost as soon as you woke up and had your identity and past explained to you by Father. You were still wearing scrubs, there hadn’t even been time to get you into real clothes.

“The host’s brain was severely damaged during capture.”

You got an image of falling. Of impact. You’d seen it before but you still gasped and braced yourself against the desk.

“Yes.” Wrath continued sympathetically. “Human emotions and experiences can be extremely strong and vivid, but it is important that you stay focussed on what matters here.”

“Sure thing, baby brother.” You replied cheekily.

Wrath’s host might be more than three times your age but this was Wrath’s first host. His first life. Someone so new had only gotten the position of Seeker and a spot in the first wave because of who had spawned him. Because of who had spawned both of you.

“There was an old man with him. Gray hair, shorter than me, big mustache...His name’s…Nope, can’t get it.” You continued. “And a girl—argh!” You clutched your chest and began breathing fast. “The girl. It hurts to think of her. It’s…guilt. And sorrow.” You raised a hand to your face and found tears running down your cheeks. “I don’t know why.”

“There was a girl severely injured in the fight that led to your host’s capture. That’s probably her.” He wrote something down on his notepad and completely ignored your display of emotion. “So her, an old man, who else?”

You thought hard. You pushed through the haze in your mind with significant effort and grabbed at whatever you could find.

“Two other women and two boys…brothers. I can’t see any of their faces.”

“Is that all you have?”

“Yes.”

“Very well. We’ll give you time to settle in. Maybe that will help jog your memory.” Wrath said. “However,” He leaned in close, all warmth and kindness was suddenly gone from his voice. “If I find out you are keeping any information from me, anything at all, I will not hesitate to report you to our father and you can kiss your second chance at life goodbye. Hell, I might just go ahead and run a blade through your skull right then and there.”

You sat frozen in silent terror.

“Now,” The cheerfulness was suddenly back, like the previous threat never happened. “You get some rest. I sincerely hope it helps.”

\----

Everyone prepared for an attack. Many of them had guns, others had swords, knives, farming equipment. Anything they could use to protect themselves. And everyone gathered near the lookout stations. The sight they saw made their blood run cold. In a camp about a hundred yards away was a practical battalion of men and women, all armed, all wearing black uniforms. Ed looked at the group through a pair of binoculars.

“Dammit! It’s Wrath.” Ed exclaimed.

You felt like you were going to puke.

“And there’s some little kid with him for some reason.”

You felt like you could have died right then and there from terror. “That’s no kid.” You said. And all eyes were suddenly on you. “That’s my oldest brother. Pride.” You worked to get your panic under control. “Pride is the head Seeker on this planet, his people are so expertly trained that he can give a single signal and have an entire city block searched without anyone knowing it was happening. We used to say he saw _everything_. But Wrath…the way he fights he’s almost just as dangerous all by himself.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Ed said. Al visibly shivered, Lan Fan put her hand on the place her arm used to be.

“Pride captures people alive most of the time, but if they sent _Wrath_,” you continued. “Then they want someone dead.”

“So they’re after you.” Fu said calmly but with ice in his tone. “They came here and put all of us in danger looking for you.”

“You don’t know that!” Ed snapped back. The two started arguing.

“Stop!” Lan Fan yelled. The room went quiet. “I can sneak down there unseen and spy on them, find out what they want.”

“But you haven’t fully healed yet!” Ed said with concern.

“He’s right.” You said. Ling was terrified of the very prospect of her doing something so dangerous.

“I’m fine, it’s been three months. I’m going.” Lan Fan said with no room for debate. “Even considering my…condition, I’m still the best at remaining unseen.”

“Then I’m going with you.” You declared. Before, Ling had often accompanied her on such information gathering trips and he had been able to match her sneakiness.

“Absolutely not!” Fu insisted.

“He’s right.” Lan Fan said before another argument could start. “ The less people who go the safer I’ll be. I will go alone.”

It was clear nothing was going to stop her, and you and Ling both had to begrudgingly admit that she was right.

She left after nightfall and planned to return the next night. During the day that she was gone everyone was nervous, but you were so anxious you couldn’t stay still. Your own feelings drowned in Ling’s worry and guilt and sense of responsibility. You stayed in the lookout stations and watched the gathered Seekers for as long as you could, but eventually you felt like you were going to explode if you didn't move.

You paced and walked aimlessly and stayed in the workout room hitting a punching bag until Ed found you passed out on the floor because you’d forgotten to eat. When Lan Fan finally did return you barely stopped yourself from running over and hugging her. It felt like a heavy stone had been lifted off your chest.

“They don’t know that we are here.” Lan Fan reported. “They are just here doing a routine search of the area. Wrath is here to protect Pride.”

“This is good.” Ed responded. “The compound is fully camouflaged and the heavy snowfall is helping us out even more. We just have to wait for them to leave.”

“I don’t know.” You chimed in. “My brothers can be…persistent.”

::::::

Pride and the others stayed for three days and found no trace of the fort or anyone inside it. But when they left, Wrath stayed. After another three days you concluded that he had no intention of leaving.

You had expected more people to turn hostile towards you with the threat of Seekers hanging over their heads, but to your surprise people started looking to you for information and guidance instead. It started with just Ed and Al, but soon enough others were asking you questions about how to deal with the Seekers as well. You figured it was because they knew that your kind wanted you dead too. Being found out was just as much of a death sentence to you as it was for them. It helped that you had experience hiding from Seekers from back on Chimera Planet, and experience seeing them work from the two centuries before, so you could actually answer most questions asked of you pretty well. But with Wrath intent on becoming a permanent figure on your doorstep things in general were growing tense once again.

“What does this bastard want?!” Ed yelled frustratedly as he looked out at Wrath just standing and waiting, staring in the vague direction of the compound.

“Me, probably.” You replied with a shrug. “And probably all of you guys too but I have a feeling it’s mostly me.”

“What’s he even trying to do just standing there?”

_“Probably trying to starve us out.”_ Ling reasoned. _“I’d bet he doesn’t know exactly where we are, he just suspects that we’re somewhere around here and that we’ll run out of supplies at some point and need to venture out.”_

You relayed the message to Ed.

“Damn, that’s probably right.” Ed said. “Ugh, I just want to go out there and punch him in the face!”

“Don’t do that!” You said emphatically at the same time Ling yelled it in your head.

“I know, I know. But I want to.” Ed grumbled.

You looked at Ed. It was sometimes hard to remember that he was so young, what with all he and Ling had accomplished. And now all of that was in danger. Because of you. In that moment you made a decision, it was one Ling approved of.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Left y'all with a bit of a cliffhanger, didn't I? Well, here you go, wait no longer.

::::::

That night you snuck out of the compound using one of the exits that led out to the side Wrath couldn’t see. You hiked west until you found a small opening between the mountains that you could just barely fit through. Then you did your best to sneak around until you were behind Wrath, but unfortunately you saw the other man turn to watch you as soon as you got within sight range.

“Let me guess. You’re here to beg for forgiveness.”

“Absolutely not. I’m here to _end_ you.”

“And what makes you believe you can do that?”

“Arrogance, mostly.”

“Well,” then Wrath rushed at you with a sword that you hadn’t even seen him draw. At the last second you were able to block the strike with one of the two sickles you’d stolen before leaving the compound. You fought for some time with neither of you landing a blow on the other. “I don’t understand you Greed. You get a second chance to be a part of the family that rules the universe and yet you abandon it. And for what?”

“Because I could never be in a family with _you_, you _bastard_! You took _everything_ from me!”

“Oh, so you _have_ remembered. I still don’t see why you care so much about your dead little pets.”

You screamed wordlessly and pushed your blades against Wrath’s with all your strength. “I’m not gonna let us steal the lives of any more humans.” You realized it was true as you said it. “I’m gonna stop us.”

“I’d like to see you try!” Wrath said, pushing back and knocking you to the ground. You dropped your sickles as you fell. Wrath raised his sword. You closed your eyes and thought an apology to Ling.

Then a gunshot rang out. You opened your eyes and saw Heinkel standing a few feet away. The stakes were suddenly so much higher. “You idiot!” You yelled. “But, thanks for the help!” You pounced towards Wrath. The bullet hadn’t hit him but when he dodged it he had lost his footing. You took advantage of this and knocked him to the ground, with your reclaimed sickles encircling Wrath’s throat. You were about to say something snarky about the tables having turned when you felt a sudden pain in your side. Wrath hadn’t dropped his swords. You fought to keep your hands tight on the weapons at Wrath’s throat until Heinkel got to you, then you fell down into the snow and out of consciousness.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I figured I'd make sure y'all didn't have to wait too long for the resolution to last chapter's cliffhanger.

……

“Hey, Lan Fan.” Ling whispered, and scooted his sleeping bag closer to hers. They were in an abandoned barn for the night and a hole in the roof provided a dazzling view of the stars.

“What is it, Ling?”

“Do you think we, you and me and Fu, are the last humans left in the whole world?”

“…I don’t know. I hope not.”

Ling looked silently up at the stars for a moment. Then he continued. “Why do you think the aliens came here?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hope they came here because another planet fought them off. I hope everywhere they’ve invaded there’s been rebellions and they’re here because they’re running.”

“I doubt you’ll ever get the chance to ask one.”

“No. I’d kill it first.”

……  
……

Once again you awoke screaming on an operating table. You did a quick assessment. You were inside the compound, good. Your lower abdomen was bandaged tight and hurt much less than it did before, good. Dr. Knox was looking at you sternly, probably also good. One more thing to check.

_“Hey, Ling, you good?”_

_“Well, I’m still here.”_

_“Good.”_

“There’s no need for all that racket. We already had to use almost half our supply of medicine on you, so don’t make me give you another sedative.”

“Sure thing.” You said quietly. Then you remembered how you’d gotten hurt. “Wrath! What happened to Wrath?!”

“I said _calm down_!” You shut up. Knox continued. “Heinkel got to him before you passed out.”

“So he’s dead.”

“Nope.”

“Huh?”

“Ed didn’t want to kill him. Kept saying there was still a person in there.”

“Aw hell. So where’s Wrath now?”

“Well, it’s kind of ironic.”

::::::

You approached your old cell and saw Wrath sitting patiently on the bed. Waiting. Ed and Al were standing outside the cell, along with Granny, Lan Fan, and Fu. They were all arguing.

“—One good reason why we do not kill this thing right now!”

“There’s still a human being in that cell, Fu, and I won’t let us become murderers!”

“You are a naive child that has no place in this discussion, Ed!”

“Oh, like you’re that much older, Lan Fan!”

“I’m the one who actually _built_ this place and I say my boys have a say!”

“So you think we should actually keep this thing alive?!”

“Of course not! But Ed and Al do so it’s not that simple.”

You cleared your throat. Everyone stopped shouting and turned to look at you.

“Good. You’re awake.” Ed said to you with no small amount of relief in his voice. “Help us out here.”

“We need to kill him.” You said calmly. You could tell that Ling felt the same way. “He’s a Seeker, it’s too dangerous to just keep him locked up.”

“No!”

“Ed—”

“He’s one of your kind, too! Don’t you care that you’d be killing another of your species?”

“No. No I don’t. We’re the _bad guys_, Ed. If you asked, I’d kill him myself. Actually, why don’t you let me do it? Then it's just one monster killing another and none of you have to do anything wrong.”

Lan Fan and Fu looked at you as you said this. Their faces were unreadable except for the slightest hint of suspicion.

Ed looked shaken but still determined. “No! Anyone who wants to get to him is going to have to go through me! And, Greed, you’re not one of the bad guys.”

“I _really_ am.”

“You’re not! You’re one of _us_! And none of us are going to kill him!”

You were a bit shocked by Ed’s emphatic declaration.

“What if we give him to the militia? Or bring them here if transporting him is too much of a risk.”

“Handing him over to them is the same as pulling the trigger ourselves. This isn’t a battle, he’s a prisoner.”

It was clear that Ed wasn’t going to change his mind. But you couldn’t keep Wrath in a cell forever, and when the bastard did end up dead or killing someone else it was going to break Ed’s stupid bleeding heart. And that would break Ling’s heart. And, even though you knew it was necessary, you didn’t like the idea of killing a human being to kill the parasite inside of it, and you were sure that everyone else felt the same way. If they killed Wrath it would weigh on their hearts forever. And that’s if Wrath didn’t somehow get free and slaughter everyone here or…or worse. You looked into Ed’s fierce uncompromising eyes and knew that the latter eventuality was the more likely one. They wouldn’t kill him.

You knew there was _one_ way this could all work out. And you knew that if you didn’t say anything about it then Ed was wrong and you weren’t one of the good guys. You _really_ wanted to be one of the good guys. And you thought about what you had said to Wrath while you fought him, how you were going to stop your people from stealing more human lives. You had meant it. And there was really only one thing you could do to follow through on that promise.

But you also, selfishly, wanted to live.

But it wasn’t just your life at stake. It was everyone you cared about. You _wouldn’t_ let Wrath take that from you again. So it was time to reveal your last secret.

“There’s another way.” You said, and led the group over to where Wrath couldn’t hear you. Once again all eyes turned to you. “We’d need the right equipment, and it’ll be dangerous to get, but we can remove the parasite without killing him.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Lan Fan ran forward and pinned you to a wall with her forearm against your neck. “So you’ve been lying to us?! All this time?! Of course you have. I can’t believe anyone here was actually stupid enough to trust you.” Then she let you go and stormed off.

_“Part of me also wants to be angry you kept this secret, even from me, but that was a little harsh.”_

_“Don’t worry, she’ll calm down once she realizes what this really means.”_

_“Greed—”_

“Okay everyone. We need to start planning a heist.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update today! This chapter was so short I figured I should post the next one too.

::::::

Everyone’s hearts were racing as you, Ed, and Al got out of the car and stepped into the hospital parking lot.

_“Try to calm down. Breathe like I taught you.”_ Ling said.

You started to pull in deep, slow breaths and thought back to when you were inside that hospital, to your first memories of this planet. “Okay, storage should be in the back of the building, thank god, on the east corner.” You all pulled up the hoods of your jackets and pulled your masks up over the bottom of your faces. You crept around to what looked like a garage. It was unlocked, just as you had thought it’d be, your kind was way too trusting. You opened the corrugated metal door and it was _way_ too noisy but it was what was inside the room that almost made you start panicking. Here they were. Boxes and boxes of extraction and hibernation pods. The devices that would surely be used on you all too soon. You buried your fear and focussed.

The three of you started to move into the room when you heard a voice behind you.

“Hey! What’s going on here?!” Ed and Al froze, you turned around. Ling told you what to say. You took off your hood and mask.

“Surprise security inspection, so far so good.” You said, the guard shined his flashlight in your eyes then put it away.

“Oh okay, in that case—Wait.” Recognition dawned on him. “Aren’t you Gr—” he was cut off by your punch, which knocked him out.

“Al, get him in the car, we’re taking him too.” Al dragged the large man towards the car’s backseat while you and Ed carefully walked into the room and up to a crate full of boxes.

Together you hauled it back around to the trunk of your stolen car and got it inside. Ed wiped some sweat off his forehead. “I don’t know how we’re gonna get this up the mountain.”

“One box at a time if we have to.” Al responded as he hauled over another crate, this one full of medicine. “But we probably won’t, Winry was working on something when we left.”

Then you got in the car and drove away. It was that easy.

You had thought walking the line to the gallows would have been harder.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out chapter 16, which was also posted today!

::::::

When you got back to the compound you couldn’t quite keep your hands from shaking as you pulled a box from the crate then pulled two of the four pods from the box. Wrath and the security guard were sedated and restrained face down on Knox’s two operating tables.

You took one of the pods and pressed the top to turn it on and open it. Then you pointed out a button on the inner surface. “What you want to do,” you started, your voice surprisingly steady as you removed a small capsule from inside the pod. “Is to make a cut on the back of the neck. You’ll see something red, but brighter and more viscous than blood. Then press this against the cut and have someone push this button.” You pointed back at the pod. “It makes a low frequency noise that will safely dislodge the parasite from the host.”

Everyone in the room had their eyes on you. Knox, the Elric brother, Lan Fan and Fu, and a scattering of others. It actually made the room feel pretty cramped.

You handed the equipment to Knox. “I have to go.” You started to walk out the door with no further explanation, behind you you heard Fu whisper to someone to put extra guards on every exit. Then Ed asked something that stopped you in your tracks.

“What do we do with the alien once it’s out of the host?”

“Kill it, of course.” Lan Fan said.

“Now wait a minute.” Ed responded.

You turned around and sighed. “This shit again, really? That’s _Wrath_ in there and you don’t want to kill him?!”

“And you do? He’s one of your brothers!” Ed questioned.

“And a year ago he killed everyone I ever loved!”

There was a tense, silent moment.

“As much as I hate to say it, the parasite is correct. Besides, what other option do we have?” Fu reasoned.

_“There _is_ another option, you know there is.”_ Ling said.

_“Not a good option so shut up!”_

_“Greed, l know you’ve already done more than I could ever fairly ask of you but…look at Ed’s face!”_

You looked at him. He looked angry and desperate and on the verge of tears. Ling couldn’t take it. You couldn’t take it.

“Dammit, okay!” Again all eyes turned to you. “Listen, there’s one thing we could try. But I don’t recommend it.”

“What is it?” Ed asked, grabbing on to the sliver of hope you had given him.

“The Origin, the planet we come from, is practically halfway across the known universe from earth. If we get him on a rocket and send him back there it’d take over a hundred years for him to wake up. Plus, the hosts on the Origin are nowhere near fully sapient, he wouldn’t be hurting anybody else.”

“Let’s do it.” Ed said, looking determined.

“Did you miss the part where I said we’d have to get him on a _rocket_? Just how the hell do you think you can do that?”

_“We’ll find a way. We’re smart. We can do this.”_

“I refuse to let _anyone_ die when I know there’s another way.” Ed looked stern and uncompromising.

After a moment everyone else in the room sighed. You all knew you couldn’t stop him now.

“Thank you so much for the suggestion, Greed.” Knox said sarcastically.

“Whatever. You just get the parasites out of those people and into the pods. We need to start planning a reverse heist.”


	18. Chapter 18

::::::

By the time you, Ed, and Ling came up with a workable plan it was late into the night. Suddenly, Al came running up to the room where you were.

“Guys, there’s a problem with the people we took the aliens out of.”

Ed was up and running in a flash.

“Calm down, brother! They’re both alive and well…but…”

Ed waited for Al and you to catch up to him, then you all kept walking. “But what, Al?”

“Well, they’re both in cells. The one that was the security guard gleefully admitted to being a famous serial killer. And the one that was Wrath…” you reached the cell Wrath’s former host is in. Your blood ran cold when he looked at you the same way Wrath used to.

“What exactly have you done to me that you think will make me more cooperative or less of a threat?”

Al turned to you and spoke softly. “He still thinks he’s Wrath.”

You stared at the man with wide eyes.

“I don’t understand.” Ed whispered harshly. “If the other guy knows who _he_ is then why not this one?”

You approached the cell door and sat down in a nearby chair so you were at eye level with the man who used to be Wrath. “Wrath, tell us about your host.”

“Why?”

“Humor me.”

You didn’t expect this to work but for some reason it did.

“This body has been my host for decades. I was one of the first of our kind to live on this planet. The body, while currently past its prime, is in peak condition in every way. It was raised and trained since birth to be my perfect vessel.”

You could almost feel the shock spreading from you to Ling and to the Elrics as well. “Raised since birth?” You asked, horror creeping into your tone.

“Yes. You see, Greed, we never really trusted you. Father was smart enough not to give you any information about his plans for this planet.”

“Tell me more.” You insisted.

“No.”

“Tell me more, or I’ll kill you!”

“I’m a dead man anyway, but fine. You want to know what our father plans for this planet? Imagine a race of creatures raised to have no identity. Peak physical and mental ability but nothing to get in the way of occupation, and with the durability and adaptability of humans. An entire species of perfect hosts. Hell, you could probably rip me out of this body without it even notic—” He stopped short. “You did. Didn’t you? That’s why this body is still alive. I’m probably dead, aren’t I?”

“Not dead. Not yet.”

“Well, you’ve gotten what information you could out of this body. No point in keeping it alive any longer.”

“What? No!” Ed yelled.

“Squeamish, boy?” The man said back to him. “There’s no reason to be. Like I said before, this body has no identity.”

“But you’re a person!” Al protested. “We’re _talking_ to you.”

“Weren’t you listening? There’s no one in this body, what you are talking to is just a projection, an echo, of myself.”

You got up and grabbed Ed’s shoulder. “Leave him. We need to have a talk about this. All of this. With everyone.”

……

“It’s reckless and stupid! We can’t even tell them where our home base is because it's too dangerous!” Jerso argued.

“So what? We give up? Do you really not want _anyone_ out there directly attacking these parasites?” Ling countered.

“If even one of them gets caught it’s over for them. We need to cut off all contact with these people.”

“We need to support them!”

“What, do you want us fighting too?”

“No.” Ed cut in. “No, we’re not going to fight. The people Mustang’s militia are killing are still people, they’re just possessed, and I, at least, _can’t_ participate in that. But…I do think we should keep in contact with them. Find out what they need and if we can help. Us humans have to work together.”

“The best thing we can do to hurt these fuckers is live safe.” Zampano interjected. “We lost the war, kids, this is a game of survival now.”

“And what about the human race?” Ling retorted. “What about _its_ survival? Because if no one fights back then we’re the end of the line. After us _they_ get to say what being human means.”

There was a pause. Then Granny spoke. “If everyone’s done arguing we’ll put it to a vote. Who says we set up regular contact with the militia?”

Ling and Ed both raised their hands, so did many others. As the votes were tallied Ed silently slipped his other hand into Ling’s and held it tight.

……

You were standing in front of literally everyone in the compound. It made you feel nervous, but they weren’t looking at you, they were looking at Ed, who was just finishing his account of what the man that used to be Wrath had told them about the aliens’ plans for humanity.

“Obviously,” Granny said. “We need to get this information to the militia as soon as possible. The Curtises have volunteered to go deliver the message. But there’s two other issues we need to deal with. The first is Barry.”

“Oh yeah, what are we going to do with a serial killer?” Ed asked.

Al raised his hand and spoke. “We send him to the militia too.”

“What.” You said.

“All he keeps talking about is how he wants to kill the aliens for taking so many years of his life away, so why not send him to the militia where he can, well, do that?”

“I honestly can’t think of a better idea so let’s go with that.” Granny said. “Now. That leaves us with one problem left.”

“We can’t let him loose.” You insisted. “He’ll kill his way out then report your location to my family.”

“But he’s human!” Knox said.

“Not in _his_ mind, he’s not.” You replied.

“So far he has been a valuable source of information, so we cannot kill him.” Fu reasoned.

“Whoa, killing him was never an option!” Ed yelled back.

_“But it should have been. As messed up at that would be. That’s how we can keep everyone safe.”_ Ling reasoned.

_“I agree.”_ You added. _“But I’m not sure anyone else does.”_

“Calm down.” Granny commanded. The room went silent. “It looks like for now we have no choice but to keep him locked up in a cell.”

There was some murmuring but in general the crowd seemed to agree.

“Greed,” Granny continued. “You’re on interrogation duty, you know him the best.”

This generated some backlash, but Ed put a stop to it with a shout. “Granny’s right! He’s been responsive to Greed before, that’s how we found out what we just told you!”

The angry noises from the crowd softened into low grumbling. You figured that meant you had gotten the gig. A part of you felt elated that this would give you a temporary reprieve from your inevitable death, but another part just felt guilty.

Ling tried to convince you to silence the second part. _“You deserve a life, Greed.”_

_“Yeah.”_ You replied. _“But not yours.”_


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, two weeks, huh? How the time does fly. Sorry y'all.

……

Ling followed Ed inside the compound, each of them had a large heavy bag they were hauling over their shoulder, but both bags were about halfway empty. Al followed behind them with a third similarly lacking bag.

“I think it’s official.” Ling said to Ed. “There’s nothing else in these abandoned towns to scavenge.”

“But that’s okay, right? I mean we’re pretty self-sustaining here now.”

“Yes, but there’s things we need that we can’t grow. Tools, medicine, light-bulbs!”

“Well what do you suggest we do about it?”

Ling gave Ed a look.

“No. Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”

“It doesn’t matter, Ed, it needs to be done.”

“What if one of us gets killed, or worse, captured. We’d be jeopardizing everything we’ve built and everyone who lives here.”

“And if we don’t go pretty soon they’ll be nothing and no one left to endanger!”

“We have enough supplies!”

“Unless something goes wrong.”

“Who says it will?!”

“Something _always_ goes wrong eventually. And if someone gets _hurt_ we’re screwed. We don’t even have any unexpired neosporin. Ed, I don’t want to lose this.”

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment.

“Fine, we’ll talk with everyone about going into the cities.” Ed conceded. Ling hugged him. “Get off! I said we’d _talk_ not that we’d do it!”

Ling didn’t let go. “Don’t worry, Ed. We won’t screw this up. I’ll make sure we don’t, I promise.”

……  
……

This wasn’t like taking the hibernation pods. Your destination was deeper into the city and you had to find a car to steal and start driving before sundown. It was just you and Ed on this one. It should have been you and Lan Fan, no offense to Ed but she was way stealthier, but no one really trusted her to be alone with you. Understandably.

Ed gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles and you and Ling both wished that either of you knew how to drive so Ed could hide in the backseat. As it was if you got pulled over for any reason it would all be over.

The place where ships left and returned to the planet was practically in the heart of the city. Everyone liked watching a spaceship take off or land, it looked pretty damn impressive. But it was still an important and dangerous area, and that meant security. You and Ed easily climbed over the fence, ignoring the “Keep Out” sign, and it was easy to stick to the shadows until you got to a large warehouse near the launch pad. There you found your greatest obstacle, a lock. A plain, low-tech lock that you needed a key for. Most of the locks your people used just had retinal scanners to prove you weren’t human, but you guessed this place was important enough to warrant a little extra discretion.

Ed pulled out a set of lockpicks from his pocket and handed them to you. You did your best to call upon Ling’s muscle memory, but even with Ling guiding you it still took several tries and much whispered cursing to get the door to open.

Inside the warehouse were rows and rows of shelves, all organized into different colored sections and all full of hibernation pods. You saw a computer in one corner and quickly snuck over to it. There was no password needed, thank god, just a retinal scan. You used your eyes to log in and then let Ed start typing away, he was always the best with computers.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ve logged in two more pods going to the Origin, put them in that gray section in the back.” You rush to follow his orders.

“Alright, done.” You said as you ran back to the computer. “Now let’s get the hell out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

The two of you rushed back to the car and made your escape. It was deep into the night now and the rest of your drive would take place under the cover of darkness. You relaxed a little. The next hardest part of your journey should be the days of hiking through the wilderness, and that’s something you at least had done a few times before. You started to doze in the passenger’s seat.

……

Ling and Ed were huddled up in sleeping bags, staring up at the night sky and trying to guard themselves against the cold. Al and Lan Fan were sleeping a few feet away.

“Hey, Ed,” Ling whispered like this was a slumber party. “Things are going to be…high stakes, when we get to the city. If something goes wrong—”

“You said nothing would go wrong.”

“And I stand by that. But if something _does_, you have to be onboard with killing any of us rather than letting us get captured.”

“No. There’s always another way.”

“No there isn’t. Not always. If even one of us gets taken then it’s over. All of it, for everyone.”

“Could you kill Lan Fan if you had to? Or me?”

“That’s…That’s _not_ going to have to happen.”

“Good, so let’s stop talking about it.”

“…Okay. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit short, sorry.

……  
……

When you and Ed arrived back at the compound the mood was somber. Something was off. Granny met you as soon as you made it inside.

“Boys.” She greeted you.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” You cut to the chase.

“This is…This is gonna be hard for you to hear.” She said, looking at you.

“Is it Lan Fan?” You spoke the panicked words at the same time Ling thought them.

“No, she’s alright. It’s…It’s Heinkel.”

It’s like the floor dropped out from under you. You heard Ed ask what happened.

“The, uh, the man who used to be Wrath got loose. There was a struggle, Heinkel had his gun…the man is dead and we don’t know if Heinkel will survive.”

“No.” You said quietly. This couldn’t be happening. Wrath couldn’t take someone else from you, especially not one of the two people here who were actually _your_ friends and not Ling’s.

“Greed, are you okay?” Granny asked as you stood there frozen.

_“Greed—”_

“No! Shut up!” You were moving now, automatically. Ed called out for you to come back but you could barely even hear him, much less listen. You needed to be alone.

_“Greed—”_

_“Shut up! Go away! Leave me ALONE!”_

You ended up in front of a small storage closet on the level below most of the main rooms. You methodically emptied it out then grabbed the heaviest thing that was in there and barricaded the door from inside. Darkness and silence. That’s what you needed. You remembered this mourning ritual from one of the other planets you lived on but you couldn’t remember which one and you didn’t care. You could relax in the darkness and silence, it became all of reality. There was nothing beyond this small space so there was nothing for you to face or accept or fear. You sat down on the floor and did your best to forget you existed. Your task was made significantly more difficult by the tears rolling down your cheeks.

…….

……

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That blank space is there for a reason.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long guys, I've been throwing myself full-time into crafts to chase away the quarantine boredom. But you guys deserve some content to consume during these trying times.

::::::

You didn’t know how long it had been. Probably more than a day. Hunger was what eventually pulled you back into your body and reality. You sighed and exited the storage closet. Ed was there, waiting for you, but he had fallen asleep leaning against the wall. You nudged him with your foot to wake him, he stirred with a start until he remembered his surroundings.

“Greed!”

“Brat.” You said with no feeling. You felt numb inside.

“Greed, Heinkel’s stable. He’s gonna live!”

You fell to your knees in relief. “That’s _really_ good news.” You saw that Ed had been crying though, then you realized why.

“Ed, I’m sorry about…the man that used to be Wrath.” You said as you got to your feet. “It’s fucked up what happened to him, what _had_ to happen to him. Hell, his entire existence was so fucked up that this was probably a mercy.”

“I know. Just…I want to make sure that things don’t ever have to end that way again. That the parasites can’t do to others what they did to him.”

“I feel that way too. My species is pretty fucked up normally but this is horrific even for them. And hey, we told the militia, and we’re trying to set up better communication with them in general, we’re doing everything we can to fight this.”

“Yeah. Yeah, thanks. Hey, how does Ling feel about all of this?”

That’s when you realized you couldn’t tell what Ling was feeling.

_“Hey, kid?”_

Nothing.

_“Ling!”_

Nothing but you in your head.

“Come on, talk to me!” You yelled aloud, starting to panic.

“Greed, what’s going on?”

Oh god oh no oh god what had you done? “I can’t…I can’t feel Ling in my head anymore. Ed, he’s gone!”

Ed’s eyes went wide. “What do you mean?! When was the last time you could feel him?”

“It was…oh fuck. Oh _fuck_.”

“What?”

“I didn’t mean it, not like this!”

“What happened?!”

“The last time he spoke to me I…I told him to go away, to shut up. I screamed it with my voice and with my mind.” You felt about as horrified as Ed looked.

“How do we bring him back?” He asked after a silent moment.

“_Shit_, I—I don’t know.”

“Think! What happened back in the woods, when I first met you? What let Ling be in charge then?”

“I was…confused. And very upset and I didn’t know what to do.”

“I think we’ve got all of that covered.” Ed joked hollowly.

“And…And Ling had a goal. To get to the safehouse, to get back here, to find you…It was you. Even after we got there hearing your voice gave him what he needed to stay in control a little while longer. And he’s _always_ louder around you.”

Ed grabbed your face, looked deep into your eyes, and spoke. But not to you. “Ling. Ling, hear me! Listen to me for once and come back!”

You searched your mind for him and found nothing. “Dammit! It’s not working!”

Ed sighed. “Then I…I have one more idea.” Before you could ask what he meant he’d grabbed you by the shirt and pulled you in close and then he kissed you.

For a moment you just stood there frozen but then, without your input, your body started kissing him back. You had lost all control and you were unbelievably relieved that you had.

_“You’re back!”_ You thought. _“You’re back you’re back you’re back!”_

This confused Ling. He stopped kissing Ed and tried to make sense of his surroundings. “What—” is all he managed to get out before his confusion loosened his grip enough that you were slammed back into control. But Ling was still there.

_“Was I gone?!”_ He asked, horrified.

You laughed in relief. _“Doesn’t matter. We got you back.”_

_“Wait. Was I just _kissing Ed_?!”_

Ed looked up at you then, visibly out of breath. “Did it work?” He asked desperately.

“Yeah.” You said, and tears of relief welled up and threatened to fall. “He’s back.”

Ed wrapped his arms around you and buried his head into your shoulder. And if you both stayed there and cried for awhile, well, that was nobody's business.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been... over a month. I'm so sorry y'all, I blame quarantine. Seriously though I've been in weird space mentally because I am literally never alone at home and I usually post chapters when I'm alone. Anyway, back to the story. You might want to skim previous chapters for a quick refresh. Chapter 24 is an epilogue so this is the beginning of the end folks.
> 
> Warning: general suicidal themes.

::::::

You stayed in the infirmary with Heinkel all day every day while he was recovering. Darius did too, and Ed visited often. Dr. Knox put you to work changing bandages and cleaning the wound and taking care of anyone else who wandered into the infirmary with mild complaints. A couple of them didn’t want _you_ helping them but Knox yelled at them about how stupid they were being until they agreed to let you help. You appreciated that.

You had decided that the day Heinkel was well enough to go back to work would be your last day. You thought you would dread it but as time went on you felt more and more like a weight had been lifted from your chest, you no longer felt like a criminal living a stolen life, not when you knew you were about to give it back. Ling, however, felt differently.

_“Greed, you don’t have to do this!”_

“Yeah I do, kid. Yeah I do.”

_“There has to be another option, something we haven’t considered!”_

“Heh. You sound like Ed.”

_“Greed, it can’t end like this!”_

“Kid, it _has_ to end like this. What if I slip up and make you disappear again? What if we can’t bring you back? What I’m doing to you right now is wrong but _maybe_ I could live with it, but I’m not going to risk _that_ happening. Never again.”

_“Greed…”_

“Look, Ling, you can’t change my mind and you can’t stop me so just drop it, okay. I…I don’t want to fight with you. Not today.” You felt tears start to fall down your cheeks. They weren’t yours. “Hey, cheer up kid,” you said gently. “You’re about to get your body back.”

::::::

You tried your best to act natural around everyone throughout the day. You wanted desperately to say goodbye to Ed and Al and Darius and Heinkel but they would just have tried to stop you, especially Ed. You couldn’t think of anything you wanted to say to the others that they didn’t already know, but there was something you needed to tell Ed. So you wrote it down, you knew Ling would deliver it for you after you were gone.

‘Dear Ed,

Thanks for saving my life. I know that might sound hollow considering what I’m about to do but my time here was worth it, worth anything, and I wouldn’t give it up for the world. You were my friend despite what I did to Ling and I have no fucking idea how you did it but I’m grateful for that too. Take care of Ling for me, make sure he doesn’t do anything too stupid.

From Greed.’

……

Lan Fan was probably going to win the fight even without Ling’s intervention. They both knew that. But when Ling had seen that alien, that _parasite_, pin her to the ground he had just reacted. He stared at the dead body as Lan Fan quickly rolled out from underneath it. He removed his sword from its chest and it fell limply to the ground.

“Lan Fan! Are you okay?” He asked, a bit frantically.

“Yes, I, uh, are you okay?”

Ling put on his calm facade. “Yes, of course.” He looked at the blood on his blade. After a moment he wiped it off on the corpse’s pants.

Then Lan Fan gave a small surprised yell and pointed at the body’s head. There was _something_ leaking out of it. Something too bright and viscous to be blood. Something that was twitching.

“So this is what they look like.” Ling said, fascinated. He leaned down closer to the blob.

“Ling…” Lan Fan warned.

Ling lifted up a foot and thoroughly crushed the parasite into the dirt. “Disgusting.” He sneered.

……

You head to the infirmary in the middle of the night. Knox slept there so you didn’t have to waste time searching for his room. Ling was being stubbornly silent but as the infirmary came into sight he started pleading.

_“Is there nothing I can say that will make you change your mind? I don’t even want my body back! You can keep it! It’s not worth losing you!”_

Greed sighed. “Yes you do, no I can’t, and yes it is. Look, there’s nothing that’ll change my mind so just—” You walked into the infirmary and saw Lan Fan and Fu holding Dr. Knox at knifepoint. He looked furious. All three of them turned to stare at you.

You smirk. “I thought I’d save you the trouble of dragging me from my room.” You say cheekily. “There’s less of a chance we’ll wake up the Elrics this way.”

“You know what we need to do?” Fu questioned.

“Yep.”

“And you will not resist?”

“Nope.” Both him and Lan Fan looked shocked. You almost wanted to laugh at their faces. “Now, just to make sure we’re all on the same page here, Dr. Knox, I need you to get me out of this kid, understand?”

“Greed, you don’t have to do this, I can handle them. You could raise the alarm.”

“I have no doubt that you can deal with these two, Doc, but_ I_ need you to do this. To give Ling his body back.”

Fu gave you a wary look but Lan Fan was looking at you with something close to respect.

“And then I need you to let me die.”

Everyone’s face went slack with shock. Lan Fan dropped her knife. Again, it was almost funny. Then Knox’s fury returned. “Absolutely not! The hell kind of doctor do you think I am?!”

“Well what other choice is there?”

_“Greed. Listen to him,_ please_.”_

“We could send you to another planet.” Lan Fan suggested. Surprisingly, she actually seemed upset at the prospect of your death, even after everything. You were grateful for that.

“What, so I can steal someone else’s life? No.” The thought sickened you as the feeling of living in Ling’s body had started to sicken you.

“What about the Origin?” Knox chimed in.

“Yes, you said the hosts there were not sapient!”

“And Wrath would be waiting for me when I got there. And if I’m going to die either way, I’d…I’d rather not outlive everyone I know again. Besides, you’d need my eyes for the retinal scanner to get me there so it’s impossible.”

Lan Fan started to say something, but Fu put a hand on her shoulder. “Lan Fan. The creature has chosen to die. It is not our place to question his decision.” He looked at you still not quite with respect, but with understanding, acknowledgement.

“I still don’t agree to this.” Knox shook his head.

“Then we will force you to do so.” Fu responded. Lan Fan picked up her dropped knife.

You casually hop up so that you’re sitting on the operating table. “You’re gonna have to sedate this body, and make sure I’m dead before Ling wakes up. The fastest way would probably be to throw me out into the snow. I’ll freeze solid quick.”

“Now hold on—”

“Don’t worry about it being inhumane, I’ve been through much worse and should still be sedated myself.”

“You’re asking me to help you commit suicide, Greed!”

“I’m asking you to save Ling from the goddamn disgusting _parasite_ that stole his body!” Dr. Knox still looked stubbornly uncooperative. “Fu?” You asked. Fu dutifully pointed his knife at Knox’s throat.

“Get that thing away from me!” Knox tried to push away Fu’s arm. It didn’t budge. Then he sighed. “Okay…if I have no choice, and this is really what you want?”

“It is.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

You laid down on the operating table as Knox gathered his supplies. You found tears running down your face again.

_“This again?”_ You asked, almost amused.

_“Greed, I’m going to miss you.”_

You almost laughed. _“No you won’t. You’re gonna be too wrapped up in having your own body again to care.”_

_“No. I’ll mourn you. I’ll mourn you for the rest of my life. I won’t waste what you’re giving me by wallowing in the grief but I will never stop missing you.”_

Suddenly the tears weren’t just Ling’s. _“Ling, thank you. Thank you for letting me borrow your life, it was everything to me. You are everything to me.”_

Then Knox was walking towards them with the sedative.

_“Greed, please reconsider!”_

_“Goodbye—”_

_“No, Greed, wait!”_

_“Goodbye, my friend.”_


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the last main chapter, next is the epilogue.

——

You were trying to sleep. It was your first night on earth. That’s when you first heard it.

_“Greed.”_

“Huh?” Suddenly you were fully awake. “Who said that.”

_“Me. Ling Yao. The_ rightful _owner of this body. Did you really think I would just let myself disappear? That I wouldn’t fight? I’m still here, in your head. My head.”_

“Aw fuck.” You said tiredly. “That’s not supposed to happen. Ugh, Dad’s gonna kill me.”

_“Not if you don’t tell anyone.”_ Ling more ordered than suggested._ “You won’t have very much to tell them about anything anyway. I will not let you know any information that could endanger my friends, especially not what the Seeker, Wrath, desires.”_

You groaned in frustration. “Come on, kid, I’m just trying to get by.”

_“No. Except under one condition.”_

“And what is that?”

_“You give me my body back and we go there. Just us, no Seekers. You let me go home.”_

“What? I don’t think that’s even possible.” You felt a wave of disappointment as you said this and realized with a start that it wasn’t your feeling. “Besides,” you continued. “I can’t just walk away from my family. I have a duty to them.”

_“They treat you like garbage. I can tell that from one day.”_

“I owe them.” You said stubbornly.

_“Fine. I guess we’re at a stalemate then.”_

“Yep.” You said with a yawn. “We’ll just have to learn how to live with each other.”

The next day a part of you was disappointed to find that it hadn’t been a dream. But, strangely, another part of you wasn’t.

::::::

There was a profound emptiness. A complete solitude. You were alone. If this was death you didn’t think you could stand it, it was going to drive you insane. You screamed into the emptiness. You screamed and screamed until a hand grabbed your shoulder and a familiar voice called out in concern. “Greed!”

You opened your eyes. One last time you had awoken screaming on an operating table.

“Greed are you okay?”

You did a quick self-assessment. “Yeah.” Then you looked over at who was talking to you. It was Ling. “What the fuck. What the fuck did you guys do?! You were supposed to let me die!” You look around the room and see the Elrics, Granny, Lan Fan, Fu, and Darius and Heinkel. “Why am I not dead?”

“Well,” Lan Fan started. “What happened was…”

……

When Knox had successfully removed Greed from Ling’s body Lan Fan couldn’t hold back her words any longer.

“Wait! Don’t kill him!”

Knox looked at her. “Of course I’m not going to kill him! What sort of doctor do you think I am?” He put the capsule containing Greed safely into the hibernation pod. As he did so Fu spoke to Lan Fan in hushed tones.

“Why do you wish to save the parasite, he wanted to die.”

“Because…Because he was willing to sacrifice his life to bring Ling back to us.”

“Do you have any idea what we’re going to do with him?”

“No, but I’m sure someone will be able to think of something.”

After a moment Ling awoke. He shot violently up into a sitting position and took a few heavy breaths. “Don’t kill Greed!” He yelled.

“Jesus, you guys really think low of me.” Knox complained and put the hibernation pod on the table next to Ling. Ling looked at it for a minute and was about to pick it up when Lan Fan ran up and threw her arm around him. Ling hopped off the table to hug her back properly and Fu came over to wrap them both up in his arms. Tears streamed down everyone’s face.

“I’ve wanted to do this for months!” Ling exclaimed.

Fu pulled back from the hug. “So you really _were_ present in the mind of the parasite?”

“Yeah, Greed kept me around.”

Fu looked thoroughly ashamed. “Ling… I… When I first returned here…”

Ling pulled him back into the hug. “It’s okay. It’s okay, I forgive you.”

You stayed like that for awhile. Then Ed burst into the room. “What’s going on in here?! I heard yelling.”

“Ed!”

“Ling?!” Confusion and relief were equal in his tone.

Ling ran up and hugged him. For a moment Ed just hugged him back. Then he pulled away. “Wait, where’s Greed?!”

“In the pod.” Ling points over to the table.

“Did Lan Fan and Fu force him into this?”

“No, no it was his idea.”

“But why didn’t he _tell_ anyone?”

“He…He wanted to die. He wrote you this goodbye note.” Ling handed Ed the folded paper. “But we couldn’t let that happen.”

Ed looked from you to the paper and back a few times. “That idiot.” He said frustratedly.

“But still, the question remains.” Lan Fan said. “What _do_ we do with him?”

“I… I think I have an idea.” Ed said. “But it might take some time.”

……

“Ling…” You ask worriedly. “Whose body am I in.”

Ling hands you a mirror. “He’s been braindead since he was seventeen. A motorcycle accident. They used to use him as an example to scare kids into caring about road safety. Ed remembered his face from the local news. Him getting up and walking around all of the sudden was one of the first signs that things were going wrong back when the invasion first started in earnest.”

You looked at your face. You’d guess it was about twenty-five, maybe a bit older.“How… How did you find this guy?”

“Three months of searching.” Ed chimes in. “When we took the parasite out of him he started to die, just like we thought.”

“If it helps,” Ling added. “You can think of yourself as this body’s life support machine. It _is_ empty in there except for you, right?”

“Yeah, it’s empty. Almost too empty.” You shivered.

Ling gave you an understanding look. “I think I know what you mean.”

“You… You didn’t have to do this for me.” You say as you hop off the operating table.

Ling immediately hugs you so tight you have trouble breathing. “Yes we did, Greed. You’re a part of this community too. A part of this _family_.”

You don’t know what to say so you just hug him back.

“Yeah, Ling really missed you.” Ed said. “He kept your hibernation pod in a locked drawer in his bedside table, he never let anyone else get too close to it, and a few times I even caught him talking to it.”

“Force of habit.” Ling replied as he blushed embarrassedly.

“And it took him a couple weeks to stop saying everything that was on his mind out loud.” Ed continued to tease. “He kept forgetting that people can hear him now.”

“Shut up.” Ling said with extreme fondness.

“Make me.” Ed said with much the same tone.

You looked around at all of these people, most of them smiling at you or each other. You felt elated, like a weight had been lifted from your chest. You didn’t think you’d ever have this, to get a chance to live as a real part of these people’s lives. You started laughing, then you started crying. You hugged as many people at once as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As loathe as I am to separate my boys, in this au I kind of had to.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ This has been a real fun ride y'all, I'll have more to say when I post the epilogue, but I just want to say now: thank you all for your patience.


	24. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it y'all, the final chapter!

::::::

You were meeting with the leaders of the militia. You and Ling, Ed and Al, Granny, Fu and Lan Fan, and Izumi and Sig. It was an exchange of resources and information, one that would hopefully become routine in the future. You, understandably, were very nervous.

“Why do I have to be here again?” You whisper to Ling as you see the militia’s leaders approaching in the distance.

It had been a few weeks since you’d gotten your new body. You’d expected Ling not to have time for you in between his responsibilities helping run the compound and his new relationship with Ed, but the two of you had somehow managed to remain almost as close as you had been before. And Ed was still your friend too. And Al. Hell, even Lan Fan was starting to be a little nicer to you. A little. Never in your wildest dreams had you imagined that your life would end up this good. It was almost enough to make you forget the alien apocalypse happening outside your door. Almost.

“So we can tell them about you.” Ling replied, smiling. He was savoring the experience of being outside again for the first time in awhile. You might have been gone but you made his face famous, so taking him out on raids was too much of a risk. You had actually started taking his place, now that no one would recognize you. In general, it made things a hell of a lot easier for everyone to have you there.

“And _why_ do we have to do _that_?”

“So they trust us. They weren’t exactly happy when we dumped Barry on them with almost no explanation.” Then Ling shushed you. The small group of people from the militia had stopped a few feet away from you. They turned on a flashlight and you turned your head and looked down so the red rings in your eyes weren’t immediately noticeable. The flashlight’s beam swung across your group and stopped on Ling.

“Wait,” the man holding the flashlight, the obvious leader of the group, said. “I know your face, there was a manhunt for you last year. Aren’t you Greed?”

“Nope.” Ling said cheerfully, his human eyes only reflecting light the normal way. “But he used to be me. This,” He pulled you to the front of the group. “Is Greed now.”

“Um, hi.” You said nervously. “Long live the resistance, or whatever it is you say.”

“You_ know_ no one says that.” Ling teased.

“Well I had to say something!”

Ling laughed and put an arm around your shoulder. It wasn’t easy since you were taller than him now. Then he looked over at the militia, his eyes were cold. The message was clear: This guy’s one of us, so you’ll just have to accept him.

Ling had been pretty protective of you these last few weeks, he’d even tried to keep you from going on raids at first. You had smugly reminded him that you didn’t need to consider his input when making decisions anymore, and he had poked you in the ribs until you promised to be careful.

In a way, it was stupid since you were bigger and stronger than you had been in Ling’s body and now had the aditional safety of anonymity. But you appreciated the concern, especially since you suspected it was why no one seemed too opposed to your presence among them. Any time anyone gave you so much as a nasty look Ling gave them a nastier one. That, the fact that the person whose body you’d stolen was defending you, seemed to make everyone feel like hostility towards you was unjustified. You hoped this logic was going to work on the militia too.

To your surprise they looked at you not with suspicion, but with understanding.

“Oh,” said a blonde woman standing next to the leader. “You guys have one too. I bet there’s a pretty interesting story there.” She looked back and forth between you and Ling.

Then a man with golden hair and a beard stepped forward. His eyes shone red in the light as yours did. “Glad to see more of our kind rebelling. I thought I was the only one who was on humanity’s side.”

“Yeah, me too.” You replied, more than a bit shocked. “How long have you been fighting against my dear old dad?”

“Longer than you’d think. It’s a long story, but I was the first of us to be here on earth. That was over thirty years ago.”

You started to respond but you were interrupted by Granny pushing her way to the front of the group. “I knew I recognized that voice!”

“Pinako?!”

“Hoenheim!”

“Wait, Hoenheim?!” Ed called out and moved to the front of the group with Al.

“Boys!”

“Dad?!” Al exclaimed, shocked. Everyone else in both groups looked pretty shocked too.

“I…I guess I have quite a lot of explaining to do.” Hoenheim said embarrassedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Cue end credits set to Dare You to Move by Switchfoot) 
> 
> I would like to thank all of you for joining me on this ride despite the obscurity of the book the au is based on and my erratic update schedule. It's been a lot of fun sharing this with y'all and I hope you had fun reading it!
> 
> Edit: art by the lovely @idiots_sketchbook on Instagram


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